Sad sack

This post is very simply two good things which have arrived on my desk recently.  The first is this Central Office of Information poster from 1950, photographed as well as I can manage under the rather folded circumstances.

CEntral Office of INformation Production poster 3

I know it’s from 1950 because that is when, apparently, the Anglo-American Council on Productivity produced their report on Materials Handling.  Now I have researched this quite a bit more in the hope of finding an interesting backstory, but have to report that there is no such thing; the truth is entirely dull and intermittently depressing.

Post-war American aid to Europe, including Britain, didn’t just consist of dollars, it also came in the form of technical assistance, of which the Angl0-American Productivity Committee was just one part.   At this point, American companies were two to three times more efficient than British ones, so you would have thought that paying attention might have been worthwhile.  But British companies didn’t want to hear: they thought they knew best, that you bullied and cajoled your workers not co-operated with them, that specialists were inferior. And so nothing happened.

Which is sad, because it means that this rather endearing little poster is actually a portent, the first sign of what would in the end happen to British industry in the 80s and beyond, as companies never put their raw materials on rollers but carried on heaving the sacks instead.

Meanwhile, on the further subject of inefficiency, how to run a railway.

Royston Cooper Railway leaflet want to run a railway?

The truthful answer to the question posed by this little booklet is no I don’t, thank you.  But it has gained houseroom because it is by Royston Cooper, who designed the insides too.

Royston Cooper railway leaflet fault spread

The whole thing is excellent, and dates from 1962, as this final page tells us.

Royston Cooper railway leaflet end design

The content, funnily enough, despite my almost total lack of interest, isn’t bad either.  The point of it is to prove that it’s actually harder than you think to run a railway, lots of things can go wrong and so please can you be very nice to Southern Railway when they do.

Royston Cooper Railway leaflet spread

We could probably do with a reprint now.

Royston Cooper but

Surf, psychosis and Audrey Hepburn

Remember I asked last week where all the traditional railway posters have gone?  Well now I know the answer: they’re all in the forthcoming Onslows Sale.

Ronald Lampitt (1906-1988) St. Michael's Mount, original poster printed for BR(WR) by British Colour Printing c.1948
Ronald Lampitt, 1948, est. £500-600

There’s no shortage of them yet, that’s for certain.  In fact, in some wierd inversion of the natural order of the world, Onslows are currently offering a much more traditional set of posters than Sotherans.  Strange, and yet true.

Jack Merriott (1901-1968) Newquay, original poster printed for BR(WR) by Waterlow c.1954
Jack Merriott, 1954, est. £800-1,000

There are hundreds of them, really, please do go and see for yourself.  In fact I’d quite like it if you did as there are almost certainly some goodies which have passed me by.

All of which is not to say that there aren’t some other kinds of gems in there as well.  My pick of the sale has to be this, which is fabulous and I think underpriced.

F K H Henrion (1914-1990) Changing the Guard, original poster printed for London Transport by John Swain 1956
F H K Henrion, 1956, est. £100-150

But I’m more than happy to point you at this because we already have a copy and very nice it looks in its frame too.  As the estate agent said, it’s the foreshadowing of Pop Art in 1956, while at the same time insane genius at work.  Go on, you know you want to.

I also have no designs on these two James Fittons, because we’ve bought quite a bit of his work over the last year – by quite a bit I mean two or three posters, and we don’t have the wall space for even those.  I’m a bit less keen on the blackout poster; and while the clown is lovely, I suspect that it is lovely enough to fetch quite a high price too.

James Fitton (1899-1992) Inside its bright outside its dark, original poster printed for London Transport by Waterlow 1941
James Fitton, 1941, est. £200-300

James Fitton (1899-1992) Its safer by London Underground, (Clown on Tight rope) original poster (without title) printed for LT by Baynard 1937 - 102 x 63 cm
James Fitton, 1937, est. £400-600

Now I do rather want this Royston Cooper, although probably not at that price.

Royston Cooper Hastings & St Leonards, original silk screen poster printed for BR(SR) by Planet
Royston Cooper, est. £250-300

Hastings never looked so Continental.  It’s not alone either; there’s a fair amount more late 1950s early 1960s travel posterage  in there alongside the traditional stuff.

Anon Be Budget-wise ! Buy a Shopping Ticket to London, original poster printed for BR(SR)
Anonymous, est. £100-120

(Audrey Hepburn on a cut=price day return if you ask me.)

John Cort Country Afternoon Tickets, original poster printed for BR(SR)
John Cort, est. £100-120

Not only railway posters but also coach travel too.

Studio Seven Britain by Motor Coach, original poster printed by Waterlow -
Studio Seven, est. £40-60

I can’t work out whether the Morphets Sale is still feeding through into the rest of the market, or the rest of the market has woken up to the potential of this kind of design.  Either way, I rather like it.

The kitschier side of the 1950s is also represented here, and at prices only slightly lower than you might find at Sotherans too.

Alan Durman (1905-1963) Herne Bay on the Kent Coast, original poster printed for BR(SR) by Baynard 1962
Alan Durman, 1962, est. £600-700

I will be watching this kind of poster closely to see what they actually make.  I’m not entirely sure I approve of the trend here – are these posters actually that much better than the ones above them –  but that’s a thought for working out on another day in another post.

Although this Bromfield does get the Quad Royal seal of approval, even if it does look as though she’s standing in front of a giant bee.

Bromfield So near to the sea, original poster printed for BR(SR)
Bromfield, est. £160-180.

And it’s cheaper too.

There’s plenty more in this catalogue too, not least the World War Two posters, but this post has gone on for quite long enough already.  So I’ll deal with the rest of it next week, which gives you plenty of point me at all the interesting posters that I’ve missed too.  Then I’ll also explain why we’re probably not going to be buying anything from Onslows this time round (it involves a rabbit and pony, that’s all I’m saying for now).

Missing

Meet Royston Cooper.

Royston Cooper portrait by James Holland

I rather wish I had, actually.  Quite a few people have contacted the blog over the last year or two about him, and they all remember an extraordinary and extrovert character.

The picture was drawn by James Holland, a friend of Royston’s, in 1954, and was very  kindly passed on by the artist’s daughter, Jane.

Rpyston Cooper express coaches to London poster

I would have liked to honour the picture by digging out a few new Royston Cooper designs for you, but frustratingly, I can’t find any.  But they must exist, because not only did Jane Holland remember a campaign he designed for Ribena, but Artist Partners have also put a brief professional biography on their website.  From which you can see that he did simply tons of commercial work which must be out there somewhere, even if most of it probably wasn’t signed.  I think a trip through Designers In Britain may be called for one of these days.

Until I get round to that, however, you can have one of his fine art prints.

Royston Cooper Fine art print on eBay

You can actually have this if you want, because it’s on eBay as a Buy It Now for just £44.99.  I quite like it, but wall space is at a bit of a premium round here so I think we’ll pass.

While I am on the subject of unobtainable delights which have been lost by history, it’s probably worth mentioning the John Burningham exhibition at the London Transport Museum.  He designed a new poster in honour of it, which is mostly ordinary type, but his bit is lovely.

John Burningham London For Children LT poster

We visited the show at the weekend. It’s small but perfectly formed, and contains as well as the better known LT posters, a good handful of designs for coach posters which I’ve never seen before.  One in particular, of cats in a boat, is wonderful, but I can’t find a picture of it anywhere.  The closest I can come is this, on the right, part of a lot from last year’s Morphets sale.

Two Burningham Coach posters from Morphets Guest sale 3

And if anyone can explain to me why this lot went for just £10, and not to us, I’d like to hear it.  Mind you it was Lot 908, I think my brain had probably gone into overload by then.

It’s probably worth reminding you that not only is his autobiography wonderful, but John Burningham is at the LT Museum tonight, in conversation with Robert Elms.  I, sadly, will not be there, as I have a prior engagement with a children’s party at a soft play centre.  Let joy be unbounded.

Thick and Thin

This has been hanging around on the bookshelves for a bit, waiting to find a home.

Royston Cooper vintage coach poster lounging on bookshelves

Which is quite a tricky problem as I can’t exactly roll it up as it’s on card.  Fortunately I’m starting to quite like it where it is; it may be there for a while.

The design is by Royston Cooper and dates, according to Christies at least, from 1960.  Until the long one turned up on eBay, I’d only ever known the image in its upright form.

Royston Cooper Thames Valley flower coach poster in portrait form

But I think I prefer it reclining.  Here’s the whole thing for your delectation, and to enable you to consider just how little a coach trip from Worcester to Slough in 1960 would be as much fun as the poster.

Royston Cooper Thames Valley coach vintage poster in landscape long thin

All of which made me think about long thin posters.  Partly only so that I could post this, which is one of my favourite posters ever.

Atoms at Work vintage 1950s poster Sheffield Atomic Energy Authority

The entire 1950s encapsulated in a fifteen inch long piece of paper.  Genius.

Mr Crownfolio remembers that the seller told him this was produced for the Sheffield buses, but other  long thin posters turn up in a couple of places.

For example, the GPO produced strip posters for their vans.  At  51″ long, they were almost like till rolls and I’ve only ever seen them on the BPMA site.  Which makes this Austin Cooper, at a mere 6″ x 20″, a bit of a mystery.

Austin Cooper Vintage GPO poster Telegraph less 1944

It dates from 1944 so perhaps they were fixed to bicycles rather than vans.  Or something.

London Transport were the other home of strangely shaped posters, like this 1974 Harry Stevens that I think may have been meant for display on a bus stop.

Harry Stevens bus stop litter poster business man 1974

And this Eckersley from 1960 which the LT Museum site call a panel poster.

Tom Eckersley London Transport Panel Poster 1960 Lost Property

Which were meant for both buses and tubes, it seems.

Panel posters were produced for display in Underground car interiors, as well as on the inside and outside of buses and trams. Because they did not have to fit a standard frame or wall space, they are smaller than other poster formats and vary slightly in size.

And I imagine that because so many were pasted on, only a few survive.  That’s a shame really, because in many ways they are very manageable posters, much easier to find space for than some of their bigger cousins.  At least I hope that’s true, because we’ve bought another two from the seller of the Cooper, by Studio Seven and Lander this time.  More on those when they arrive.

Going, gone

So it’s back to work after the birthday festivities, which today means a brief round-up of eBay and auction news.  Such as there is.

Thebasement101 seems to have an almost inexhaustible stock of slightly obscure London Transport posters backed on linen.  He has put another three up for sale this week, of which my favourite is this Victor Galbraith owl from 1960.

Victor Galbraith vintage London Transport poster owls 1960

Although I do not like it with £99 worth of like.  I must research Victor Galbraith properly one day, because the few bits of his work I’ve seen I always enjoy.  But I’m not even going to look today, as who knows where it will end up and I have other things which have to be done.  But if anyone out there knows something, please do get in touch.

Mr Basement also has the two posters below, by Stella Marsden and Maurice Wilson respectively.

Vintage London Transport poster Stella Marsden 1955 brass rubbings

Vintage London Transport christmas poster 1951 Maurice Wilson

If you prefer railway posters and steam trains (is this the Quad Royal demographic?  I’m not sure) then there is also this Studio Seven piece, which is quite good if you do want a piece of 1960s text about steam trains.  And a lot cheaper than £99.

Studio Seven last steam train vintage railway poster 1960 Swindon

Elsewhere on eBay, two conundrums.  Exhibit A is undoubtedly an interesting and very rare survival of some World War Two propaganda that is also commercial advertising.  But it’s the picture that’s the problem.

Vintage World War Two hitler winsor and newton poster

Because at first glance it could easily be mistaken for a pro-Nazi poster.  Which is an interesting reminder that context is all; I am sure that no one in an art shop in 1942 would have thought that way.  But which makes me feel that it belongs in the context of a museum.  Or am I being too sensitive here?

Exhibit B is only really a conundrum in the sense that I am forced to wonder who on earth thinks it is worth that money?  Yes it is a McKnight Kauffer poster, but it is a 1973 reprint for the V&A with, frankly, not very nice lettering added.

McKnight Kauffer 1973 V&A Exhibition poster

If that is worth £159, I am a stick.  It’s not even ‘Must-have’ as the seller suggests in the title.  Really.

The rest of this post is a slightly sorrowful litany of Things We Have Missed.  Starting with this Barbara Jones book.  Now the seller didn’t do themselves any favours -here’s their photo.

Barbara Jones book on eBay

And here’s the cover scanned rather than photographed in infra red.

Barbara Jones cover for fairs and markets book

But even so, I would have expected it to go for a bit more than just £7 when it goes on Abebooks for between £40 and £50.  (To my chagrin we put a stupidly low bid on it because we’ve already got one, and now I feel foolish).

And finally, this.

A collection of posters, Keep Britain Tidy, Henry Moore Exhibition, Heath Robinson posters etc

That’s all the lot description said, and it caused a mad panic here at Crownfolio Towers, because the email alert arrived on the day of the auction.  I do know that it had one of these in.

Royston Cooper lion keep britain tidy

And also, possibly, a 10 x 15 version of one of these.

Royston Cooper pelican vintage poster keep britain tidy

Along with a couple more Keep Britain Tidy posters that I can’t trace.  But more than that I will never know, because it went for £10 over our top bid.  I can, just about, live with that, because we hadn’t seen the condition or anything.  But I would still love to know what the posters were, so if any of you lot bought them, can you send the photos over?  I promise I won’t be too bitter.

History coaching

Happy New Year.  I’ve had flu, so Quad Royal will be easing itself gently into 2011 for the next week or two.

Today, I will be mostly reminding you about this.

BBC coach golden age image

A coach.  Which is advertising The Golden Age of Coach Travel on BBC4 tonight (full details here if you want to know more).

I have no idea whether there will be posters or not, but I will be watching intently, just in case they show something of this ilk.

Daphne Padden coach poster vikinds

Or indeed this.

Royston Cooper vintage coach poster

And yes, this does make me a bit nerdy, but what the heck.  This may be the year to embrace my inner nerd.

Should these posters whet your appetite, a few have appeared on eBay too.  For example this Daphne Padden.

Daphne Padden vintage coach poster on eBay

Or a Harry Stevens.

Harry Stevens vintage coach poster on eBay

And even a Royston Cooper.

Royston Cooper vintage coach poster roundel

They’re all on offer from the same seller, and all currently at reasonable prices, although with a week to go, this may change.  Once again I suspect someone churning some Morphets’ purchases, but obviously this is just a theory rather than any hard facts.