Orient Express Photographic Book. Hardcover, published in 2016. Details the history of the iconic railroad line through photographs, film stills, and more. Comes with dust jacket. Art direction by Camille Dubois and Paola Nauges, edited by Lindsey Tulloch. 

Size: 1 1/2 x 10 x 13 in. 

#8691 . 

The Orient Express was a long-distance passenger luxury train service that first entered service on June 5th, 1883, created by the Belgian company Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (CIWL). The train traveled the length of continental Europe, with terminal stations in Paris in the northwest and Constantinople (now called Istanbul) in the southeast, and branches extending service to Athens, Brussels, and London. The Orient Express connected the western and eastern extremities of Europe, and the route saw many alterations and expansions over the decades, including the introduction of the Simplon Orient Express following the opening of the Simplon Tunnel in 1919, further enhancing the service’s allure and importance. Although the original Orient Express was simply a normal international railway service, the name became synonymous with intrigue and luxury rail travel. The 1930s saw the Orient Express at its most popular, with three parallel lines running carrying sleeping cars with permanent service and restaurant cars known for the quality of their cuisine. Royalty, nobles, diplomats, business people, and the affluent bourgeois who had weathered the worldwide Depression were its primary clientele. Although the train service survived World War I relatively unscathed it struggled to maintain its preeminence amid changing geopolitical landscapes and the rise of air travel in the post-World War II era. The route stopped serving Istanbul in 1977, cut back to a through overnight service from Paris to Bucharest, which was cut back further in 1991 to Budapest, then in 2001 to Vienna, before departing for the last time from Paris on June 8th, 2007. After this the route, still called the Orient Express, was shortened to start from Strasbourg, leaving daily after the arrival of a TGV from Paris. On December 1st, 2009 the Orient Express ceased to operate entirely and the route disappeared from European railway timetables. In contemporary times the legacy of the train has been revived through private ventures like the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, initiated by James Sherwood in 1982, which offers nostalgic journeys through Europe in restored 1920s and 1930s CIWL carriages, including the original route from Paris to Istanbul. Since December 2021 an ÖBB Nightjet runs three times per week on the Paris-Vienna route, although not branded as Orient Express. Beginning in 2025 Accor will launch its own Orient Express with journeys from Paris to Istanbul, having renovated 17 CIWL carriages from the defunct Nostalgie Istanbul Orient Express line. Due to its eminence in European history it has been continually referenced and romanticized in literature, music, and film, including playing integral roles in Bram Stoker’s “Dracula,” Ian Fleming’s “From Russia With Love,” and as the titular service in Agatha Christie’s most famous work, “Murder on the Orient Express.” Aside from the Trans-Siberian Express and the 20th Century Limited it is the most famous line in history, capturing the imagination of the public and inspiring generations of travelers to explore trains to this day.