Another Christies auction of posters is coming up soon – and while I really like a lot of the old posters, the fact that a lot of other people share my interest tends to push the prices to unaffordable levels. Alas.
Fortunately, the Christies website is quite good at displaying the posters being sold, and provides for a gentle 10 minutes of viewing pleasure.
Don’t put your computer mouse over the poster on their website though, otherwise you may cry at the prices some of these sheets of paper can command.
A few of my personal favourites are:
MILES, MAURICE FOR THE ZOO lithograph in colours, 1933
CUNEO, CYRUS CINCINATTO; FLYING AT HENDON lithograph in colours, 1914
BRENET, ALBERT IMPERIAL AIRWAYS
(just 10.5 days to Australia – wow!)
KLEIN, DAVID; NEW YORK, FLY TWA, c.1963
(reminds me of the end sequence to 2001, A Space Odyssey)
HANS SCHLEGER; THESE MEN USE SHELL, JOURNALISTS, 1938
(One of the more surreal posters from a series of adverts)
Finally, something topical…
BATEMAN, HENRY MAYO COUGHS AND SNEEZES SPREAD DISEASES, MINISTRY OF HEALTH, c.1940
Did you know you can buy prints of some of these amazing posters at http://www.scienceandsociety.co.uk/ (no i don’t work for them!)