Vintage Irish travel and tourism posters dating from the 1920s are expected to fetch strong prices when they go under the hammer at Christie's auction house in London next month.
The posters, which would have been displayed in railway stations across Europe and within Ireland, were designed to promote the country as a romantic and mythical destination.
About a dozen Irish posters are included in the specialist sale of about 240 vintage travel posters on September 14th.
"Land of Legend" is how Ireland is described in one poster featuring the tower at Glendalough, Co Wicklow, and which is expected to sell for £500. Another poster produced in 1955 depicts a craftsman at work and is valued in the region of £600. Also included in the collection is a German travel poster for Ireland, or the "Romantic Land" as it is described, which is worth up to £800.
The decades between 1920 and 1960 were the golden age of train travel. Railway companies were keen to promote themselves and produced many posters advertising historic landmarks and destinations which could be reached by train.
Ferry journeys from Britain to Ireland were also idealised in the travel posters, with the ferries promoted as if they were luxury cruise liners. One poster boasts that "modern motor ships", the Cambria and Hibernia, were fitted with "anti-roll stabilisers".
Set up in 1945, CIÉ was fundamental in developing the tourism industry after the second World War and some of the posters in the sale were commissioned by the company. A poster of the Shannon from 1955 - valued at £500 to £700 - may bring back a few memories for older people, according to Greg Ryan, heritage officer for CIÉ.
"CIÉ introduced the idea of bus tours to popular destinations," he said. "It was an era when people would often stay in the railway hotels owned and recently refurbished by CIÉ and then pop on a bus for day trips to destinations such as Galway and Killarney."
CIÉ also introduced the silver A-class locomotive between 1954 and 1956, which was heavily promoted on posters.
Innovative gimmicks such as the "radio train", where a disc jockey was aboard to play passengers' requests, and "mystery trains", where passengers did not know their destination, all boosted the appeal of train travel.
By the 1960s, more people were touring in their own cars and cheap package holidays were coming on stream. It largely spelled the end of the railway advertising poster.
Poster expert Nicolette Tomkinson says the posters should have a wide appeal when they go for auction.
"They remind people of happy times and make great works of art to display at home - it is a very strong market."