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In the very early days of commercial aviation, the principal means by which airlines advertised their services was the poster.
American Airlines, Braniff International Airways, Pan American World Airways, Swissair, Trans World Airways, United Airlines and many others all used the medium to great effect. This was not only to sell the relatively new idea of flying to a small constituency of wealthy travellers, but also their respective fleets and route networks, to passengers in their home markets and around the world.
In his latest book on British Airways, Paul Jarvis has selected 200 posters from a collection of over 1,000 posters from BA’s near 100 year history.
It begins with a poster from the very first BA predecessor airline, Aircraft Transport & Travel, which operated the first commercial air service from London to Paris on 25 August 1919.
The book also features an extensive collection of posters from other predecessor airlines including Imperial Airways, BEA and BOAC.
Not only do the posters cover developments in technology such as the VC-10, Boeing 747 and Concorde, but also major occasions of the 20th Century, such as the 1948 Olympic Games, 1951 Festival of Britain and 1953 Coronation. They all rely heavily on illustration and feature a variety of styles, notably the modernism of Imperial Airways’ posters in the 1930s.
The book inevitably focuses on advertising between the 1920s and 1960s as television took over as the principal advertising medium for airlines. BA of course used television advertising to great effect in the 1980s and beyond.
However, there are many more recent posters in the book such as BBH’s 2012 Olympics campaign and illustrations by Carla Lucena for the launch of London Gatwick – Lima in 2016.
Sadly, the book’s author passed away in the week of publication.
Paul Jarvis was a much respected and liked colleague who for over 15 years has volunteered as the curator of the British Airways Heritage Collection. This is particularly untimely as next year BA will celebrate its centenary. There can be no doubt Paul’s work has played a vital role in airline’s preparations for its centenary.
Paul has also published a number of books on BA are all of which are on sale at Amberley Publishing. This collection of books will serve as a reference of decades of aviation history for many years to come.
