March 6, 1886 · Compagnie Générale Transatlantique · Dinner aboard a French Line transatlantic steamer
March 1886 was the late-winter season — generally rough Atlantic crossings of ten to twelve days. Dinner aboard the French Line was already firmly French in cuisine and service even at this date: French chefs in the galley, French stewards in the dining saloon, French wine and Champagne lists.
The chromolithograph cover shows a French Line steamer with three masts and twin funnels, flying the French tricolour at the stern, set in moderate sea state. This is one of the earliest dated menus in the NYPL collection and a fine survival of 1880s steamship graphics. The lower left corner shows minor edge loss — characteristic of paper of this age.
By 1886 CGT had been in regular Le Havre–New York service for two decades. The fleet of this period consisted of compound-engine steamers still carrying auxiliary sail — a transitional generation between pure sail and full steam, with twin masts, multiple funnels, and rigging that could be set in case of mechanical failure or favourable winds.
Visual style: Chromolithograph featuring a steam-and-sail rigged French Line vessel with French tricolour.
What you receive
- Three print sizes: 8×10, 11×14, 16×20 inches (300 DPI, ready for any home printer or framing shop).
- Two versions of each size: a pure print (no added text) and a museum print (with a small caption: restaurant or ship, year, and source).
- A 1–2 page PDF with the menu’s historical context.
- One ZIP file, instantly downloadable after checkout.
About the source
This menu is preserved in the Buttolph Collection of Menus at The New York Public Library and is in the public domain in the United States. The Menu Press has curated, digitally restored, and reformatted the work for modern printing.
