Rare Edwardian Canadian Pacific Railway Advertising Showcard Poster
🖼️ Rare Edwardian Canadian Pacific Railway Advertising Showcard Poster
“Direct Service Belfast to Canada” – c.1913
After T. Eyre Macklin RBA
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📌 Subject and Medium
An original Canadian Pacific Railway advertising showcard, promoting transatlantic and trans-Pacific passenger and freight routes at the height of the British Empire.
Lithographic colour print on card (showcard format), professionally mounted and presented in a traditional gilt frame under glass.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🎨 Composition & Technique
Produced using early 20th-century commercial chromolithography, this piece demonstrates the exceptional standard of pre-war advertising design—where fine art and commerce intersected.
The composition is carefully structured:
- A central vignette featuring a Trans-Canada locomotive
- Flanked by figurative and allegorical subjects
- Anchored by maritime scenes with Empress-class ocean liners
The typography and decorative borders reflect refined Edwardian graphic design, originally intended for display in travel offices and shipping agencies—making surviving showcards notably scarce.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🌍 Description & Iconography
A powerful visual narrative of global mobility and imperial ambition in the early 20th century.
- The locomotive symbolises Canada’s transcontinental railway
- The female figures represent international trade routes linking Europe, Asia, and North America
- The steamships depict the prestigious Canadian Pacific “Empress” fleet
The lower section details the scale of operations, including:
- Integrated rail and ocean travel
- Telegraph and freight networks
- Settlement opportunities in Western Canada
A compelling crossover piece appealing to collectors of railroad history, maritime travel, and early global commerce.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🧑🎨 Artist & Production
After a design by Thomas Eyre Macklin RBA (1867–1943)
Printed by Henry Jenkinson Ltd, Leeds
Circa 1913
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📜 Provenance
Irish private collection
Acquired via Victor Mee Auctions, Co. Cavan, Ireland (Lot 302, March 2022)
Subsequently curated by Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
💚 Why We Love It
✔ A museum-period example of pre-WWI transport advertising
✔ A rare Belfast-issued regional variant, seldom encountered
✔ Strong crossover appeal: railroad, maritime, and immigration history
✔ Rich colour and narrative—excellent wall presence
✔ Increasing demand within US interiors and private collections
✔ A tangible piece of the Canadian Pacific legacy
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📏 Size (Framed)
Height: 45 cm (17.7 inches)
Width: 55 cm (21.6 inches)
Depth: 3 cm
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🖼️ Frame
Presented in a traditional gilt frame, complementing the period aesthetic. The frame enhances presentation while protecting the original showcard beneath glass.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🔍 Condition
Presented in good antique condition consistent with age.
- Visible foxing, age toning, and surface wear
- Minor losses to the printed surface
- Frame with scuffs, chips, and historic repairs
Remains highly decorative and ready for display.
