March 10, 1899 · S.S. Königin Luise · Norddeutscher Lloyd, Bremen · Lunch
Lunch aboard NDL express liners of this period followed the standard German first-class format: cold hors d’oeuvre, soup, fish, an entrée, roast with vegetables, dessert. Service was rapid because dinner — the principal social meal — was still the same evening.
The cover features the standard NDL menu layout of 1899: a central oval medallion showing the vessel at sea, with the company name in elaborate script above and the meal label below. The conservative design contrasts with NDL’s more elaborate special-event covers.
S.S. Königin Luise, launched 1896, was an NDL express liner running Bremen–New York service. She was named for the popular Prussian Queen Luise (1776–1810), a symbol of German patriotic memory. The ship served until requisitioned at the outbreak of World War I in 1914 — she was sunk by the British Navy in August 1914 in one of the first naval engagements of the war.
Visual style: Cover with steamship in oval medallion, NDL house lettering.
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.
