TL;DR — This is an original dinner menu from Norddeutscher Lloyd, Bremen, June 15, 1901, preserved in the Buttolph Collection at The New York Public Library. The blue-tinted harbour scene is signed “TVE 1900” in the lower right corner. Restored and reformatted at 300 DPI, it prints as archival wall art in three sizes.
By The Menu Press · Published October 2026
What you are looking at
Norddeutscher Lloyd, Bremen, June 15, 1901. Dinner aboard NDL during the express era followed the European tradition: seven to nine courses, served by white-jacketed stewards across two seatings. The first seating was for those who wished to dine and then enjoy the evening’s deck life; the second was for those preferring to dress and dine later in the European tradition.
Context: the company and the year
NDL’s flagship route in 1901 was Bremen–Southampton–New York, operated by the four-funnel express liners Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse and (from June 1901) Kronprinz Wilhelm. The harbour scene shown here, with multiple steamers, tugs, and the company’s large script logo, captures the visual identity NDL was projecting at its peak.
A closer look at the artwork
The blue-tinted harbour scene is signed “TVE 1900” in the lower right corner. The composition — multiple ships in formation under a clouded sky, large overhead lettering — anticipates the heroic style that would define ocean liner posters in the 1910s and 1920s.
The watercolour technique, however, remains firmly in the nineteenth-century marine tradition.
Living with this print
The soft, illustrative cover sits well in warmer rooms. Cream or linen matting flatters the period paper tone; a slim dark-wood or antique-brass frame keeps the focus on the artwork. The 11×14 and 16×20 sizes both work framed and matted.
A simple frame and a generous mat let the original printing — the ink, the paper tone, the period typography — carry the room. Hung as a pair or in a chronological sweep with other cards from the same line, a single menu becomes a small history of dining at sea.
Norddeutscher Lloyd, Bremen · Harbour Scene · 1901 is available as an instant download in three print sizes (8×10, 11×14, 16×20) at 300 DPI, each in a pure and a museum-labelled version. View the full print →
Frequently asked questions
Is this an original historic menu or a modern reproduction?
It is an original historic menu — a single card from Norddeutscher Lloyd, Bremen, June 15, 1901, held in the Buttolph Collection at The New York Public Library and digitised at high resolution. We restore and reformat the scan for modern printing; the underlying artwork is the period original.
What print size works best?
The 16×20 inch print is the boldest single-wall choice and reads from across a room. The 11×14 suits a grouping of several menus; the 8×10 fits a shelf or a tight space. All three ship at 300 DPI.
What was Norddeutscher Lloyd, Bremen?
NDL’s flagship route in 1901 was Bremen–Southampton–New York, operated by the four-funnel express liners Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse and (from June 1901) Kronprinz Wilhelm. The harbour scene shown here, with multiple steamers, tugs, and the company’s large script logo, captures the visual identity NDL was projecting at its peak.
Further reading
- The Golden Age of Ocean Liner Dining, 1880-1930
- The Buttolph Collection: A Curator’s Guide
- See the print: Norddeutscher Lloyd, Bremen · Harbour Scene · 1901
The Menu Press curates, digitally restores, and reformats public-domain menus from the Buttolph Collection of Menus, The New York Public Library, for archival-quality printing as wall art. Browse the archive · Read our story.