Lost Letters Saved - A Special Anniversary Project
New Online Exhibition! 'Lost Letters Saved' - A Special Anniversary Project
During our 175th Anniversary year we have been taking a closer look at some of the earliest written treasures in our Archive Collection and in doing so found a hidden gem, what we now refer to as the 'Egypt letter books'.
This new exhibition, 'Lost Letters Saved' - A Special Anniversary Project, focuses on one of these letter books and describes how it was transformed from a document lost, damaged and harassed by mould to one renewed through careful, specialist conservation to provide an insight and doorway into P&O's early working life in the 1860s, at a time when the letter reigned supreme.
The letters record the Company's part played in developments of the railway across the desert to Suez which relieved some of the discomfort of the earlier overland route and amongst numerous other details they note ships that were lost and give an insight into the day to day life of P&O at the time.
Along side this exhibition, we have launched a new 'Overland Route' gallery which displays P&O's full collection of the paintings after the original Diorama from 1850, titled, Overland Route of the Mail from Southampton to Calcutta. It opened at the elegant ‘Gallery of Illustrations’, in London’s Regent Street to great acclaim and was the work of artists Thomas Grieve and William Telbin.
Paintings form this gallery are available to buy as prints either unframed or framed. Simply select the size and style of print or canvas you require and place your order.
