One of life’s simple pleasures has to be antiquing — aka rifling through used, old stuff, and possibly overpaying for it. (If you’re antiquing in a major city, you’re almost certainly overpaying for it.) Part of the joy is in the items themselves, and the other part is no doubt in the mystery of their stories. What have these things seen, and all that? Fewer items impart more of an air of mystery and adventure than the old steamer trunk, and more specifically, the old steamer trunk covered in luggage labels.
Today, we have stickers — aka cheaply made labels with an adhesive backing. I’m not talking about those. What I’m referring to is the labels made via lithographic and other printing techniques for the world’s “grand hotels” from the late 19th century through the 1960s, and which saw their heyday in the 1920s through the 1940s. If you were fortunate to travel in style during that period — a distinctly romantic era involving steamer ships, early motorcars, and Clipper planes — you no doubt had several of these affixed to your hard luggage by hotel porters. A mark of distinction that telegraphed to the world where you had been and stayed, these labels were once a given form of hotel advertising. Today, alas, they are no more.
1930s Hotel Splendide in Lugano, Switzerland. (Image by - The Vintage Inn)
However, the next time you chance upon one in an antique store — or on eBay — you might care to know a bit of history as to how these miniature pieces of artwork came to be. Because so many establishments had their own labels, they’re easy to find on websites like eBay and in the catalogs of smaller auction houses. Priced from just a few dollars to several hundred (or more) depending upon rarity and condition, they’re a fascinating window into an earlier, slower, more glamorous mode of travel. (Well, perhaps not necessarily more glamorous — spending several weeks in a trans-Atlantic steamship crossing is probably not everybody’s cup of tea.)
The Beginning of Hotel Luggage Labels in the 19th Century
In the mid-19th century, a fine hotel had limited means of advertising. One method was to commission a copper plate engraving of the hotel facade itself and use this to print paper material — letterhead, blank bills, trade cards, and more. The trade cards in particular were printed on high-quality stock that was then hand-polished, giving it a porcelain-like appearance and leading to the moniker cartes porcelaines (“china cards” in English.) Colors were often monochromatic, but occasionally hues such as gold, green, blue, or pink were used. Despite their popularity from the 1840s through the mid-1860s in Belgium, northwest Germany, Holland, and England, it was discovered that the lead-based polish used to give the china cards their veneer was causing health issues. By 1865, this method of printing was thus abandoned.
Grand Hotel de Dunkerque in Brussels - (Image by Joao-Manuel Mimoso)
The Belgians in particular stood out for their experimentation and advancement of the china card — by the time of its demise, it had most of the features that would define later label designs, including a representation of the hotel, its name and host city, its address, and perhaps the name of its owner. This period also coincided with the popularization of the steamer trunk among the well-to-do: Louis Vuitton introduced his famous luggage in 1858, having established his atelier four years earlier in Paris. His Trianon canvas designs, with their flat tops, allowed easy stacking, thus making them easier to store and transport. Their design also, conveniently, allowed for the fixing of labels, which were applied by porters or other hotel staff with a gum solution — making them nearly impossible to remove. (Travelers and collectors would sometimes ask a bellboy for extras, perhaps offering a tip — hence the myriad labels floating around the internet today.)
1870s Louis Vuitton Gray Trianon Canvas Boot - (Image by Collectors)
The steamer trunk was made for the type of well-to-do traveler who began embarking upon lengthy leisure travel of the type organized by Thomas Cook in the 1840s. His famous firm’s “grand circular tour of the Continent,” first offered in 1856, called in Cologne, Baden-Baden, Frankfurt, Paris, London, Rome, Naples, and Venice — all stops along the “Grand Tour” that quickly gained popularity with the leisure class of the late 19th century. But while shipping line and railroad luggage labels — and later, airline labels — directed porters as to where to route their clients’ baggage, hotel luggage labels served a slightly different purpose. Commissioned by the hotels themselves, they were intended as advertising, and functioned as such. Yet, as we’ll see, they took on a much more romantic purpose in the eye of the traveler, and later, the collector.
Dedicated luggage labels appeared as early as the 1870s, but it was in the 1880s that a cohesive, readily identifiable style coalesced — three styles, to be more precise, but all of a similar type: A printed, monochromatic line drawing of the hotel surrounded by a lithographically printed red frame; the drawing of the hotel building subbed out for simple block lettering, and the red “frame” taking on the aspect of a red belt, complete with buckle; or the lettering replaced with heraldic symbols and the name of the hotel contained within the outer red portion. By the 1890s, color palettes were expanded to include up to three colors, glossy finishes were sometimes applied, and Art Nouveau styling had taken hold. It was then that the first purpose-designed, color images meant for lithographic printing — rather than holdovers adopted from old plate images used for multiple purposes — appeared.
The Emergence of the Golden-Age Label
Semiramis Cairo Hotel by Ritcher & Co (Image by Art of The Luggage Label)
Hotel buildings tend to look alike, and rendering them in all their architectural intricacy is a detailed and time-consuming process, made more difficult when using a lithographic medium. Around the turn of the century, artists found a better way to depict their clients’ hotels — that is, by not depicting them at all. As the 1900s took form, labels shifted to a drawing of local attractions — the Pyramids of Giza, the Leaning Tower of Pisa — rather than of the hotel building itself.
A Borgoni label printed after a poster by the 3-color process. - (Image by Joao-Manuel Mimoso)
Rendered in two to three bright, attractive colors, this new type of label served several purposes: It saved the lithographer from having to render a complicated, line-heavy architectural drawing on stone; it conserved the amount of stones and printing cycles necessary for the lithographic printing process; and it produced a colorful, attractive, and provocative design that any traveler would be proud to display on their luggage.
Richter & Co, a printer based in Napoli since 1842, quickly took over market share, sending its salesean deep into Europe and the Middle East to peddle its colorful trade. Mario Bargoni, a house artist later appointed company director in 1906, designed some of the world’s most beloved luggage labels in the “Liberty” style — even today, Richter designs are particularly prized. By 1910-1912, the older, more detail-heavy, architectural style of label had passed out of favor, and the new, colorful, poster-like style had taken hold. (Many designs — particularly those of Bergoni at Richter — were actually reduced posters. In this case, the label was sometimes printed using a photographic process rather than a lithographic one.)
During the First World War, many hotels in Europe and the Middle East were requisitioned for military use, while some suffered the sorry fate of being completely destroyed. The Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918 that coincided with the last year of the conflict killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide — significantly more than the roughly 20 million killed during the War itself. However, by 1919, Italy opened the first national tourism agency, followed by Japan, Switzerland, Belgium, and others. By 1920, many of the world’s grand hotels had shaken off the shadow of the War and were open once more for business.
Le Corbusier's Pavillon de l’Esprit Nouveau, built in 1924 for the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs (Image by Guggeheim Bilbao)
Art Nouveau, which took hold following the Paris Universal Exposition of 1900, was still present in label designs immediately post-WWI — the reason being that pre-WWI designs underwent little change during this turbulent period. However, the Exposition des Arts Decoratifs in Paris in 1925 — which sparked the so-called “Style Moderne” movement later classified as “Art Deco” — changed all this. Bright colors, sans-serif typefaces, and a distinctly modern aesthetic took hold in hotel luggage labels. By this time, Richter and its designs were being eclipsed by those of French printers, who more quickly adapted to the new Art Deco style.
1929, the year of the Wall Street crash in the United States, sent shock waves through the luxury travel industry. Hotels pared back operations or ceased them entirely; several new builds were forced to close their doors and auction their furniture. The industry did recover somewhat by the mid-1930s — travel was becoming slightly more democratic, and even smaller institutions were commissioning labels. (Many of these lack the grandeur and poster-like artistic quality of early-20th century designs by the likes of Richter, however.) The onset of the Second World War in 1939 provided a more meaningful disruption to luxury travel, reverberating as it did to the far corners of the globe. By the time V.E. Day came around in May of 1945, luxury air travel was quickly gaining ground.
British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) jets were the beginning of the end for the luggage label, and for the Golden Age of Travel more generally - (Image by SFO Museum)
The De Havilland Comet, which entered service via the B.O.A.C. in 1952, might be considered the final nail in the hotel luggage label coffin: Now firmly democratized, travel moved skyward. Here, there was less room for luggage, and the luggage itself was no longer strictly the expensive trunk of Louis Vuitton and other makers — rather, soft luggage, garment bags, and valises came to dominate the industry. These, of course, are difficult canvases on which to affix a thin paper label applied with liquid gum. By the 1950s, Richter & Co. had closed, and by the 1970s, the hotel luggage label had all but disappeared.
“Like most badges, they illustrated an ideal…The Pera Palace never did have that view of Istanbul. Shepheard’s most certainly did not look out upon the Pyramids. Seldom was the water quite so serene around the Eastern and Oriental in Penang, and I doubt very much if the Boulevard de Madeleine was ever quite so traffic-free as it appears in the label of the gloriously named Hôtel de Paris. But then the labels also expressed aspirations, and these are far from discredited even now. A grand hotel is a grand hotel, as grand today as it ever was, and the particular aura that is projected by these lovely old stickers, the very essence of great hoteldom, is still available to the more fortunate of travelers.” - Jan Morris
A Selection of Vintage Hotel Luggage Labels
Le Trois Rois
Founded as an inn in 1681 and rebuilt as a grand hotel in 1844, Le Trois Rois sits on the river Rhine in Basel, Switzerland, and has received no less than Pablo Picasso, James Joyce, Empress Michiko of Japan, and even Napoleon Bonaparte as guests. If you’ve ever attended the Baselworld watch show (R.I.P.), you’ve had a drink here — or a cigar.
Shepheard’s Hotel
Established by Englishman Samuel Shepheard in 1841, Shepherd’s Hotel underwent several renovations before coalescing into its final form in 1927. Not only Cairo’s leading hotel but, during its heyday, one of the most celebrated in the world, it hosted Allied forces during both World Wars, and famous guests included Winston Churchhill and the Maharajah of Jodhpur. It was burned to the ground during the 1952 Cairo Fire.
Beau-Rivage Geneva
Situated on the shore of Lac Léman in Geneva, the Beau-Rivage has operated as a family-owned hotel since its founding in 1865. In continuous operation — with the exception of the Second World War years — it saw the signing of documentation birthing the country of Czechoslovakia in 1918. Each year, horological gatherings, meetings, and dinners occur here during the Watches & Wonders and Geneva Watch Days trade fairs.
Grand Hotel National Luzern
Perched on Lake Lucerne is the Grand Hotel National Luzern, a grande dame of a hotel founded in 1870. Recognizing the need to accommodate travelers brought to the area by the building of a railway in 1859, it was built to cater to a well-traveled crowd. The author’s grandparents stayed here on a tour of Europe in 1968.
The King David
Few of the world’s grand hotels have seen the share of dignitaries, statesmen, and royalty that have passed through the doors of The King David Hotel. Opened in 1931, it has hosted King Alfonso XIII of Spain, King George II of Greece, and Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia. The Oriental Bar, a favorite of the author, offers a distinctly old-world flair.
Hôtel Lutetia
Take a look at the modern facade of Hôtel Lutetia in Saint-Germain-des-Prés and compare it to postcards from the early 20th century, and one is struck by how little has changed. Named for the ancient Roman town on which Paris was built, its 1920 Art Nouveau building has hosted the likes of Pablo Picasso, James Joyce — and the Abwehr, who commandeered it during the Second World War. The author feels it may or may not be haunted.
Grand Hotel Quisisana Capri
A haunt of the well-traveled — and later, the jet-set — since its opening in 1845, the Grand Hotel Quisisana is situated in the heart of sunny Capri. Oscar Wild, Ernest Hemingway, Rita Heyworth, Ingrid Bergman — there’s no end to the list of notable personalities who have graced its halls. The author’s (distinctly non-famous) grandparents stayed here on a tour of Europe in 1968.
Raffles Singapore
Named for Sir Thomas Raffles, founder of modern Singapore, Raffles was established in 1887 and became famous for its Long Bar, which was moved to a different wing of the hotel in a recent remodel. (A once-favorite of Somerset Maugham, its floor is perpetually covered in peanut casings, while pricey Singapore Slings are dutifully doled out to curious patrons — including the author.)
Hotel Barrière Le Majestic Cannes
Opened on the Croisette in 1926, the Hotel Barrière Le Majestic Cannes frequently plays host to famous guests during the Cannes Film Festival. Housed in a beautiful Art Deco-style building — which has seen two floors added since its opening — it encapsulates the charm of the French riviera. The author was fortunate to stay here in 2023.
The Mena House Hotel
Established in 1886 near the Pyramids, The Mena House Hotel has seen the likes of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Winston Churchill, King Farouk of Egypt, and Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery walk through its doors. Managed by several hotel groups and owners throughout its long history, it still receives guests looking to soak in the grandeur of Egyptian history.
