TL;DR — This is an original daily menu from Cunard Line, June 30, 1906, preserved in the Buttolph Collection at The New York Public Library. The cover painting shows the Saxonia at sea in full steam, with the Cunard red ensign at the stern and the line’s signature red-and-black funnels prominent. Restored and reformatted at 300 DPI, it prints as archival wall art in three sizes.
By The Menu Press · Published July 2026
The menu itself
Cunard Line, June 30, 1906. 1906 was the year before Cunard launched the Lusitania and Mauretania — the new express liners that would dominate the North Atlantic. The Saxonia represented the workhorse generation of Cunard ships that still maintained the steady Boston and Liverpool service throughout this transition period.
Who made it, and when
By 1906 Cunard had been operating express transatlantic service for sixty-six years. The Saxonia, launched in 1900, was one of Cunard’s mid-sized intermediate liners running the Liverpool–Boston route. Built at John Brown’s Clydebank yard, she could carry 1,964 passengers across three classes.
What the cover does
The cover painting shows the Saxonia at sea in full steam, with the Cunard red ensign at the stern and the line’s signature red-and-black funnels prominent. Ship-portrait covers like this were used by Cunard to give passengers a souvenir image of their specific vessel.
Framing and placement
Printed at 300 DPI, the card reads well at every size we offer. The 16×20 anchors a wall on its own; the 11×14 works in a multi-menu grouping; the 8×10 suits a shelf or a narrow space.
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.
Cunard Line · R.M.S. Saxonia · 1906 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 Cunard Line, June 30, 1906, 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 Cunard Line?
By 1906 Cunard had been operating express transatlantic service for sixty-six years. The Saxonia, launched in 1900, was one of Cunard’s mid-sized intermediate liners running the Liverpool–Boston route.
Further reading
- The Golden Age of Ocean Liner Dining, 1880-1930
- The Buttolph Collection: A Curator’s Guide
- See the print: Cunard Line · R.M.S. Saxonia · 1906
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.