Collectors ready to snap up rail posters

The third and final part of the sale of Malcolm Guest's collection will take place in Harrogate to give collectors the chance to purchase a piece of railway history, including posters promoting Yorkshire's own leading tourism destinations including Scarborough and Whitby.

The overall collection of 2,500 posters, spanning more than 60 years of history, had been stored in an anonymous Knaresborough house belonging to the former railway worker.

Mr Guest took the posters home while working in the publicity department of Great Western Railway in the 1960s and meticulously archived them.

His collection was discovered following his death last summer and since being made public, it has attracted interest from across the globe.

Elizabeth Pepper-Darling, the owner of auctioneer Morphets which is handling the sale, said: "The astonishing number, diversity and condition of this collection has never come on the market before and is unlikely to ever be repeated."

The posters, used for decades to advertise holiday destinations for the railway companies, were produced by some of the leading artists of the time.

Another element of Mr Guest's collection will go under the hammer on Thursday when vintage posters for bus and coach services and London Transport memorabilia will be sold.

The first of the three sales organised by Morphets was held in January and raised 400,000 alone.

The final sale involving 650 railway-related lots will be held tomorrow and Thursday at the Pavilions of Harrogate at the Great Yorkshire Showground.