Paris á Londres Tower Bridge poster Chemins de Fer de l’Ouest – Paris to London – H Colb
One of our personal favourites this one. The vintage Paris á Londres Tower Bridge poster was designed to appeal to the French public. Its purpose was to encourage French travellers and holidaymakers to use the Chemins de Fer de l’Ouest (Western Railway) and the English, London, Brighton & South Coast Railway to make the journey to London and Britain. The poster was created around the turn of the century and is signed by an artist by the name of H Colb, who we can find absolutely nothing about. Colb’s painting depicts one of London’s major landmarks, Tower Bridge. Colb has dominated the image with the neo-Gothic architecture of one of the bridges huge towers. The view is facing away from the Tower Hill end of the bridge and out to the south side of the bridge heading down towards Bermondsey in Southwark.
The scene is quite hectic although there are no cars depicted on the bridge. Instead Colb has depicted a bright yellow stagecoach and a Hansom cab. The development of the railways in the 1830s had spelled the end for stagecoaches and mail coaches. By the early 1840s most London-based coaches had been withdrawn from service. The stagecoaches inclusion maybe a nostalgic nod to the horse-drawn method of transport that had all but been replaced by the growth of the railway. Perhaps Colb’s depiction of the coach heading out towards Bermondsey is symbolic of the stagecoach disappearing entirely from the streets of London.
Colb’s black Hansom cab with bright red wheels is shown heading towards having just appeared through the archway in the tower. They had enjoyed immense popularity.At the height of their popularity there were up to 7500 hansom cabs in use in the city. They were fast, light enough to be pulled by a single horse, cheap to ride in, and agile enough to steer around other horse-drawn vehicles in the traffic congestion of the busy London streets of the nineteenth century. Just like the stagecoaches previously mentioned the Hansom was under threat. Not from the railways, this time is was the motor car. By the early 1920s horse-drawn cabs had largely been superseded by motor vehicles.
The rest of the scene is made up of pedestrians going about their business. On the right two soldiers are making their way towards us with red tunic, black trousers and red pill-box hats. The buttons on their tunic, set in groups of three, denotes they are members of the Scot’s Guards regiment. They are one of the five Foot Guards regiments with the honour of guarding the royal family at Buckingham Palace.
A British ‘bobby’ is shown standing in the middle of the road with his hands on his hips and lantern on his belt. His constable, with shovel and brush in his hands, appears to have been given the task of clearing the horse muck of the road. Whilst it adds a sense of humour to the image, we’re not convinced it’s how to entice the French to come and visit London.
Tower Bridge travel posters
Tower Bridge is iconic. The Grade I listed bridge is known across the world and is a major tourist attraction in the city. However, at the time this poster was printed, about 1900, Tower Bridge having been completed in 1894, was still building its reputation. It would have only been open for about six years. The bridge is 800 ft (244 m) in length with two towers, each 213 ft (65 m) high, built on piers. The central span of 200 ft (61 m) between the towers is split into two equal bascules or leaves, which can be raised to an angle of 83o to allow river traffic to pass.
The image of Tower Bridge has appeared on all forms of merchadising. From key rings, tea towels and mugs through to bags, socks and jigsaws. You can make it out of lego, drink out of crystal glasses with its image on and you can even read abut the Tower Bridge cat in children’s books.
Tower Bridge has been used on many vintage railway posters and London travel posters, to entice us to use the trains to visit the capital. Some of our personal favorites include two that portray the bridge in the dark of a London moonlight night. Gustave Fraiponts Chemins de Fer de Nord Paris-Nord à London poster offers a close-up of the bridge. Frank Mason’s London poster for GWR takes in the Tower of London and more of the city, but it’s still the twin towers of the bridge that dominate the image. Ottamar Anton’s created two in 1935. The first London-Reisen Hamburg-Sud depicts a mounted horse guard with Tower Bridge in the background. The bridge is shown in its open position to permit ships to sail through it. His second is quite similar but the a Coldsteam Guard replaces the Horse Guard and in this version the bridge is down. Sandy Hook’s poster for the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway is also up there with the very best.
How much is an original Paris á Londres Tower Bridge poster worth
Origina copies of this fabulous vintage Paris á Londres Tower Bridge poster sell for about £1,800. There’s no argument from us, if you can find an original copy and can afford to buy it, you’re on to a winner. There’s nothing like owning an original vintage poster and they often make a great investment. Chances are in just a few years you’ll be able to sell it for more than you paid for it. Unfortunately, for most of us, an investment, even at the entry-level prices of the collectible poster isn’t even close to being a possibility. This is where our stunning high-quality reproductions come into their own. They cost a fraction of an original and look absolutely fantastic when they’re framed and hung on your living room wall.
