Hotel Retro: Vintage Luggage Labels from Tokyo to Buenos Aires

Journey across time and place with hundreds of vibrant steamer trunk labels from the Golden Age of Travel, faithfully reproduced as 330 charming full-color stickers

In the late nineteenth century, as industrialization allowed for the emergence of the leisure class, an unprecedented number of world travelers began touring the globe via train and sea. From far-off destinations they brought home a curious collection: eye-catching labels bearing the insignia of grand hotels, pasted to their steamer trunks as souvenirs. Today, these labels are also souvenirs of graphic design—from the opulence of art deco to the minimalism of Swiss Style. Featuring hundreds of delightful examples from the collection of Letterform Archive, Hotel Retro highlights the labels’ artistry in illustration, lettering, and typography, and restores them to their original adhesive use for the pleasure of a new generation.