I know almost nothing about this – thanks the paucity of information offered in the email that arrived this morning – but it is probably worth highlighting anyway.

Between 19th August and 19th November, Burgh House in Hampstead is hosting an exhibition of tube posters and objects that feature Hampstead Station.

The sole information is: Burgh House & Hampstead Museum presents an exhibition on the history of Hampstead Underground station, featuring objects from the Museum’s collection and a selection of posters kindly lent by London Transport Museum.

It might be a large room full of goodies, or a small annexe with half a dozen items, but the station was built during the “golden age” of the London Underground, so could be quite interesting to visit.

Burgh House is a short walk from Hampstead Station.

Opening hours are quite restricted. Wednesday – Friday & Sunday: Open 12-5pm. It might be open on Saturday afternoon as well, but only if the exhibition is in the art gallery rather than in the museum.

Admission is free.

I am actually quite keen on the old tube posters and design, and picked up a copy of a book on poster design when the Transport Museum held an exhibition about them in 2008, so will probably wander over one Friday afternoon to see what it is like.

Argh – those evil people at Christie’s are tormenting me again with another sale of (for me) unaffordable, yet highly desirable retro posters.

The full list is here, and below are a few of my personal favourites.

Click on each for larger versions via the Christie’s website.

Printed in 1938 - Has a very modern, almost scientific look to it.

An Air France map of their routes around the world - appeals to my map fetish.

Topical for the 2012 London Olympics

The cleaned up and cargo-less river would have been out of place when this poster was printed.

Personally, I find standing in a crowded bus/train surrounded by other wet people to be a reason to walk!

Click here for more.

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

I am a bit of a fan of the slightly rose-tinted memory of the so-called “golden age of transport”, and the posters that it inspired – although far too poor to be able to afford to collect them, alas.

Like running my tounge over a sore tooth, I sometimes visit displays of posters from that era, such as the recent excellent collection that the Transport Museum had. Their display though was, understandably, focused on their own art work. What I particularly love though are the posters used to advertise the great sea liners of the inter-war period.

It always seems a bit odd that something so glamerous was advertised by such a humble media – but I have to remember that most liners made the bulk of their income transporting ordinary working class people to the USA to seek a new life. The glamorous life going on the decks was only a tiny side of their function.

Anyhow, in a couple of weeks, the Christie’s Auction House will be selling a large collection of vintage posters, and they have their wonderful public viewing days. Ostensibly for potential buyers to see the wares, they are open the general public as well – and make for an enjoyable, if wistful hour of so of viewing pleasure.

Their website also has images of the posters being sold – I tend to click on the “grid” icon to make viewing easier.

Which are your favourites?

The Orwellian posters, adverts and their ilk that are going up to warn us to snoop on our neighbours report legitimately suspicious behaviour, such as not recycling the glass bottles have invevitably lead to a website to make you your own fake versions.

Make your own at http://jamesholden.net/billboard/

Via: RailwayEye

Tip to people who make these mock image websites – allow direct linking to the website with the created image. I had to save the image, resize it and upload it to the blog, which also means I can’t just send a link of a joke billboard I made to friends. Yes, it pushes your bandwidth though the roof, but is very good for viral distribution and long term link building/search rankings.