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Prepared from the source scan: surroundings removed and the sheet levelled where required. The source record remains available below.
Le Grand Siècle de l’Affiche · The Velocipede
Rudge-Whitworth, Cycle Manufacturers (1897)
Unidentified (BnF: non identifié) · Rudge-Whitworth Ltd., 1897
Format
Archival pigment giclée on museum-grade matte art paper, color-managed to the source scan — the flat inks and stone grain intact. The 40×60 is the room-changer.
Size
$39.00
What it is
A colour lithograph for Rudge-Whitworth Ltd., cycle manufacturers of Coventry, Birmingham and London, published in 1897 and printed by Courmont Frères, 10 rue Bréguet, Paris. The designer is unidentified.
Why it matters
An English firm advertising its merged name across the Channel, on a Paris press.
What to notice
Three English cities in the lettering, a Paris printer in the margin.
The bicycle sold itself as freedom, and the poster sold the bicycle.
Provenance
- School
- Belle Époque — the Affiche (France)
- Designer
- Unidentified (BnF: non identifié)
- Printer / house
- Courmont Frères, 10 rue Bréguet, Paris
- Format
- Advertising poster
- Poster published
- Rudge-Whitworth Ltd., 1897
- Source
- Bibliothèque nationale de France (Gallica)
Live trademark
Rudge-Whitworth — sold here as history, never adopted into this house’s own branding.
Rights: CLEAR. Public domain — U.S. 95-year rule (published 1930 or earlier). Gated by the poster’s own publication year. Cleared by registry on 2026-11-01.
More from the Atlas
Painted Whiskers, our sister studio, will paint your pet in this school’s hand, after Tournée du Chat Noir. See Yours Painted ↗