Exhibit » Designs on Delivery.

01. Night Mail | 1939
Artist: Pat Keely (died 1970)

Above and below are choice bits from the first poster exhibit via the Royal Mail Archive: Designs on Delivery: GPO (General Post Office) Posters from 1930–1960. (Fyi, each image link includes bio information about the respective artist plus additional links.) The show is currently running through November 4th in the Well Gallery at London College of Communication, Elephant and Castle. If you are in the London area I would strongly suggest taking in this show as it looks to be quite grand.

02. Buy Stamps in Books | 1958
Artist: Peter Huveneers (active 1958)

03. Quickest Way by Air Mail | 1935
Artist: Edward McKnight Kauffer (1890-1954)

The exhibit focuses “… on a period when designers such as Edward McKnight Kauffer (1890-1954), Tom Eckersley (1914-1995), Leonard Beaumont (1891-1986) and F.K. Henrion (1914-1990) were working and the General Post Office was at the cutting edge of poster design and mass communication. The posters are arranged by theme to illustrate the organisation’s aims. Through the medium of basic text, images and colour the posters show how the posters translated, often complex, messages to the public in order to educate them. Technological developments in the postal service which comment on social changes, such as the introduction of airmail, can also be traced through the posters.”

04. Royal Mail A.D. 1935
Artist: John Armstrong (1893-1973)

“The GPO was established in 1657 as a monopoly service, combining the functions of state postal and telecommunications carrier and spawning similar services across the British Empire. From 1660-1969 it was a State Department but in 1969 it became a statutory corporation named The Post Office. In 1981 the corporation was divided by function due to the expansion of services beyond paper-based needs: into the Post Office for postal needs; and British Telecom for other communicative needs.”

05. Post During Lunch Hour | 1937
Edward McKnight Kauffer (1890-1954)

06. A Postal Guide to the Maze of London | 1950
Artists: Jan Lewitt (1907-1991) and George Him (1900-1982)

“From early on the service was innovative for example, being the first known creator of stamps (Penny Post) in 1840. With the growth of communications The General Post Office became about more than paper deliveries within Great Britain but it was also this expansion which would see the Department split up. Design was a factor from the first, stamps required designing and the change of system required advertising. The power of advertising was used to promote the General Post Office as a service and necessity. As poster design began to expand in the early twentieth century the General Post Office increasingly used this medium and its rising stars.” (Quoted text via The Archives Hub)

07. The Post Office Handles 23,000,000 Letters a Day | 1947
Artist: G.R. Morris (active 1947)

08. Outposts of Empire: Central Australia | 1938
Artist: John Vickery (born 1906)
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For details on gallery hours and the College’s location please contact University of the Arts – London Archive and Special Collections Centre at 02075 149 333. (Free admission)
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All posters copyright © Royal Mail Group Ltd courtesy of the British Postal Museum & Archive unless stated otherwise.
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(via Ephemera Assemblyman & Glasgow School of Art Library)
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Tagged as: Design, Illustration, lettering, mid-century, poster, Typography, Vintage