French railway memorabilia

Santa Claus brought me another fascinating present yesterday. An item of memorabilia, I suppose one would call it.

Basically, it was a fold-up brochure produced by SNCF in 1955 advertising to the British tourist its extensive coverage of France.

Just as its British counterpart at that time also commissioned artists for its posters and advertising material, this SNCF brochure is covered with beautiful and charming ink and watercolour sketches of places all over France.

And, on the reverse is a comprehensive map of the French rail network in the 1950s.

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Bela Bartok: Piano Concerto No 1

There are three movements: which I would describe as being, respectively:

Wild;

Brooding and lyrical;

Wild and conclusive.