Chromos
- The Wereldluchtvaart by Henrik Scholte
A chromo is a picture obtained by the method of chromolithography, i.e. the reproduction of color images by successive impressions. This technique was gradually replaced by offset printing.
In the 1850s, the industrial revolution generated new products that required advertising to conquer emerging markets. The idea of promotion through chromos came from the owner of the Parisian department store Au Bon Marché. Faced with intense competition, dealers and department stores started to distribute chromolithographic pictures to promote their business and try to build customer loyalty; those images especially attracted the youngsters wishing to enrich albums dedicated to their precious collection. The chromo now occupies a place in the world of collectors of old papers.
The editor Van Dijk’s Mengbedrijven, Gouda (Netherlands) published a book entitled: Wereldluchtvaart (The World of Aviation). The author is Henrik Scholte and the illustrator (for the designs and drawings) is Leonard True; the foreword is by Adriaan Viruly, Commodore and Chief, North-Atlantic routes at KLM. It was distributed by Gouda’s Roem, a margarine factory in the Netherlands and was a promotional album, with rather extensive explanatory captions in Dutch for each picture. The volume (40 pages, with 64 regular and 4 large pictures) was published in October 1953. Picture number 9 of this album shows the PICAO Council in session in March 1947 (?), with PICAO’s President of the Council (Dr. Edward Warner) standing in front of 25 flags of the States having ratified the Chicago Convention. The pictures shown hereafter provide an account of the front and first pages of the album; pages 10 and 11 display the text and pictures of this album related to ICAO.
It should be reminded that, by depositing its instrument of ratification on 5 March 1947, Spain became the 26th Member State, and that, consequently, the Convention came into force on 4 April 1947, i.e. 30 days later.
From 1946, writer Henrik Scholte (1903-1988) was attached to KLM, as secretary for special services to the general operations group. With airline pilot, author and poet Adriaan Viruly (1905-1986), he published several books on aviation, among which De geschiedenis van de luchtvaart and Nederland in vogelvlucht in 1952, Wereldluchtvaart in 1953, Bird's-eye view of the Netherlands and Zie je ze vliegen? in 1954.
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Wereldluchtvaart album by Henrik Scholte. Pages 10 and 11.
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Chromo #9 from the Wereldluchtvaart album. Council in session; in the background, the flags of 25 Members States are shown. The general aspect of the room corresponds to the Council Chamber located in the Sun Life Building, on Dominion Square. On this chromo, the President of the Council is sitting/standing in front of the series of flags of the Members States; in fact, the flags are on the left side of the President. The chromo is the result of a montage for the purpose of the album. |
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Reverse of the above chromo.
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ICAO Council Chamber, located in the Sun Life Building, on Dominion Square; in background, the 54 flags of the Member States at that time. Picture taken early in 1949. The reader can notice some similarities with the above chromo.
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- Nabisco and the United Nations Association of Australia
Nabisco, manufacturers of Vita-Brits, in cooperation with the United Nations Association of Australia (UNAA), developed in 1969 a project named “The United Nations in Action” with a series of 24 cereal trading cards to help people to know more of this magnificent world-wide Organization. Two of these cards are related to the work of ICAO: card no. 9 (Technical Assistance in Congo) and card no. 18 (North Atlantic Ocean Ships Project). Both cards, recto and verso, are reproduced here-after.
Nabisco (abbreviated from the earlier name National Biscuit Company) is an American manufacturer of cookies and snacks headquartered in East Hanover, New Jersey. The company is a subsidiary of Illinois-based Mondelēz International.
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Card no. 9: Training of Air Traffic Controllers at N’Djili Airport at Léopoldville, Congo (now Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo) as part of the technical assistance provided by ICAO Experts. The airport was named after the nearby Ndjili River.
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Card no. 18: North Atlantic Ocean Stations Agreement (see more details by clicking on the following link: NAOS). Weather ship S.S. Cirrus - Launching of the weather balloon filled with hydrogen and equipped with radio gear. |
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