French Transatlantique Lunch Menu: Imprimerie Transatlantique, 1959

Title: Le Chevalier du Guet Author: Imprimerie Transatlantique Date: Monday October 12, 1959 Condition: Excellent - some age related toing, all else fine Inches: 9 1/2 x 13 3/8 [Paper] Centimeters: 24.13 x 33.97 [Paper] Product ID: 308743 An attractive large-format French Line luncheon menu from the SS Liberté, dated Monday, 12 October 1959, titled Le Chevalier du Guet and printed by Imprimerie Transatlantique in Paris, with a vivid Jean A. Mercier cover illustration of a flamboyantly dressed guard or knight on a rearing white horse before a lamplit quay, rendered in rich nocturnal blues and yellows within the line’s characteristic double green border. Opening to a fully bilingual French–English layout, the menu offers an extensive midday bill of fare—hors-d’oeuvre, soups, eggs, fish, “Spécialité Régionale,” entrées, vegetables, pastas, grillades, cold buffet, salads, cheeses, entremets, fruits, beverages and wines—elegantly arranged around the Paquebot “Liberté” crest beneath scripted “Déjeuner / Luncheon” headings. The verso continues the thematic treatment with a printed musical score and full French lyrics for the traditional song Le Chevalier du Guet, accompanied by a decorative motif of foliage and crossed elements at the foot of the page, exemplifying CGT’s mid-century practice of pairing popular chanson repertoire and distinctive Mercier artwork with its first-class dining ephemera. Background on the Compagnie Générale Compagnie Générale Transatlantique, commonly known as the French Line, was a major French shipping company founded in 1855 by brothers Émile and Isaac Pereire under the name Compagnie Générale Maritime, originally chartered by the French government to carry mail, passengers, and cargo across the Atlantic. Renamed Compagnie Générale Transatlantique in 1861, the line developed a prestigious fleet of steamships and later great ocean liners—culminating in famous vessels such as France and Normandie—that symbolized French technological ambition and Art Deco elegance on the North Atlantic route between Le Havre and New York. Through the late 19th and early 20th centuries CGT expanded rapidly, operating dozens of passenger and freight ships and becoming an important instrument of French commercial and cultural presence abroad. By the postwar era, when your 1959 Liberté menu was issued, the company was firmly identified with refined onboard service, distinctive red-and-black funnels, and richly designed printed ephemera that helped make transatlantic travel an extension of French hospitality and style.