
Nile Steamer Service — Thomas Cook & Son, c.1902
Thomas Cook & Son (printed by Johnson, Riddle, Couchman & Co., London), 1902
No print size passed the check for this piece: at 8 x 10 in, Wrong shape: a 22% crop. We would rather show it than sell a soft print.
See pieces like it you can buyA Thomas Cook & Son travel poster advertising Nile steamer tours (this printing dated circa 1902, a reprint of an 1870s original). Thomas Cook effectively invented mass Egyptian tourism; this poster sells the same Nile journey that carried a generation of Europeans to Luxor and Aswan. The steamer rendered small against the temple silhouettes it is selling passage to. A river, turned into an itinerary.
- Maker
- Thomas Cook & Son (printed by Johnson, Riddle, Couchman & Co., London)
- Date
- 1902
- Medium of the original
- Travel poster
- Original held by
- Wikimedia Commons
- Credit
- Wikimedia Commons · via Wikimedia Commons
- Rights
- Cleared for print
- Catalogue number
- PA-00883
Before a size goes on sale, the file is measured against it: pixels per inch at that size, how much of the picture a crop would lose, tone and sharpness. A size that fails is not offered, so there is nothing to choose wrong.
| Size | Why |
|---|---|
| 8 x 10 in | Wrong shape: a 22% crop |
| 8 x 12 in | 125 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 11 x 14 in | Wrong shape: a 21% crop |
| 12 x 16 in | Wrong shape: a 17% crop |
| 12 x 18 in | 83 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 16 x 20 in | Wrong shape: a 22% crop |
| 16 x 24 in | 62 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 18 x 24 in | Wrong shape: a 17% crop |
| 20 x 30 in | 50 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 24 x 30 in | Wrong shape: a 22% crop |
| 24 x 36 in | 41 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 30 x 40 in | Wrong shape: a 17% crop |
| 36 x 48 in | Wrong shape: a 17% crop |
| 40 x 60 in | 25 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
- Scanned
- 2026-10-07
- Master file
- 1,000 x 1,608 px, srgb
- Tone
- Darks 68, lights 205 of 255; 0.6% clipped light, 0% clipped dark
- Colour
- 0% vivid
- Sharpness
- 7.09
- Notes
- Neutrals lean warm (yellow): the paper and varnish of the original, kept as scanned
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