Posters paint picture of elegance

THEY capture Harrogate's pre-war charm and elegance from a time when overseas travel was a distant dream for many.

Now three 1930s railway posters advertising the town are expected to sell for up to 7,000 at an auction next week.

And three other posters – promoting the Yorkshire Dales, Fountains Abbey and Ingleton – could fetch a further 3,000 at the same auction at Christie's in London on November 5.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The Harrogate posters are particularly valuable and one of these alone – the work of artist Andrew Johnson in 1935 – is set to fetch between 2,000 and 3,000.

The others, by Scottish artists Gordon Mitchell Forsyth and Anna Katrina Zinkeisen, are from 1939 and 1934 and are valued at between 1,500 and 2,000.

A rare Ingleton poster – undated, but produced sometime before 1948 – is expected to sell for between 800 and 1200; one of Fountains Abbey could sell for between 600 and 800, while a 1940 Yorkshire Dales example is valued at between 700 and 900.

The undated Fountains Abbey poster was produced by the London Midland and Scottish Railway. The others were commissioned by the London and North Eastern Railway.

The railway companies commissioned artists to produce colourful, eye-catching posters of seaside resorts, beauty spots and places of historical interest, to boost rail travel.