News
10th August 2010
The blogs page has been a little quieter of late, as we take advantage of the summer break to press on with the writing of Volume 3. I am now deep into South Wales after completing the English section of this book. Alongside is the draft page 97, covering part of the Cotswolds. So far some 250 posters have been assigned, with more to go into the Introduction and final wrap-up chapter. There will be seven chapters in this book, with some containing around 40 posters. Planning changes have led to us to complete the poster journey at the north end of Cardigan Bay around Criccieth, rather than in Pembrokeshire. The database and artist’s thumbnails sections are also complete. Meanwhile sales of Volume 2 are still buoyant, with almost 1300 copies sold in less than 3 months.
12th July 2010
It has been a hectic few weeks since we last posted a blog, but in that time we have many to ship many books, both first and second volumes. The picture alongside shows a typical Monday, when orders are despatched following the weekend emails.
We are happy to report that sales of the Yorkshire books are higher than for the equivalent sales-weeks last year for the first book, and we have already received many emails of congratulations and thanks for the image reproduction in this larger book. Much more time was spent on enhancing images, as there was more damage on many of the original pictures.
Meanwhile, work is progressing on the next book. I am currently in Oxford: Stratford-upon-Avon & Warwick are next.
17th May 2010
Finished copies of Volume 2 arrived on Friday afternoon 14th May. We are extremely pleased with the book, and now that it is completed, the full beauty can be appreciated. The formal launch will be this Saturday at the GWRA Auction in Pershore.
We have almost 300 copies of this second book in the series to pack up and ship in the next few days, to fulfil all the advanced orders we have already received.
Over the past weekend, we have also moved into our permanent new business home in Gloucester, and full details are found on our contact page. In the meantime work still progresses on Volume 5, with over 80 posters used so far.
I am currently in Northamptonshire after passing through Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire.
21st April 2010
Volume 2 is printed. We were in Yorkshire recently to watch the some final chapters as they came off the press. The picture alongside shows us holding one of the Chapter 3 pages, which had been printed a day or so earlier. This is the section around Whitby and which contains some stunning BR posters. The book will completed in Yorkshire this week and then it is on to Scotland to be trimmed and bound. They will be available around May 14th in time for the formal launch at Pershore. Amazingly, we already have orders for more than 160 copies and this weekend at GCRA Stoneleigh we will be taking advanced orders.
In the meantime work on Volume 5 progresses and I am currently moving from Derbyshire into Robin Hood territory, Nottinghamshire. There was a surprising number of Derbyshire posters produced over the years and after careful thought, it was decided to split the county between chapters 1 and 2. Pete Waterman (or Dr. Pete Waterman OBE to give him his formal title) has written a lucid and amusing Foreword and sincere thanks go to him for doing this so quickly in what must be a very busy business schedule. He is a great person to talk with, and it is obvious he loves his railways.
Finally we have placed on-line ordering facilities for this second book on the website, so readers can now order direct from us, with £5.00 off the list price. To this, postage has to be added and we have given a variety of options for all parts of the world. If there are problems please email us at richard@railway-posters.com
1st April 2010
The final proofs for volume 2 are complete and we are checking over before printing in a few days time. The book is simply stunning, exuding colour throughout. It promises to be a wonderful journey through Northumberland Durham and Yorkshire. We have now started the third book, which will be Volume 5, Midlands and Wales, written out of sequence. This is partly due to requests from several preserved railways in the area but also because it contains our home counties of Gloucestershire (Judi) and Shropshire (Richard). It is planned to have this ready by the end of October 2010. The Foreword is written by Pop Impressario Pete Waterman. The cover (Alan Carr Linford’s Oxford) and a sample page are shown below.
The whole work starts at the real home of railways, Coalbrookdale, Shropshire, where our industrial heritage began in the 18th century. There are some rare MR, LNWR and GWR posters in the opening section.
We begin the poster tour proper at Tamworth Castle in south Staffordshire and then move to the 3-spire city of Lichfield, shown above right. I am currently in the High Peak (north Derbyshire) after visiting Stafford, the Potteries and the Spa town of Buxton. Chapter 2 will be south Derbyshire’s dales, and the shire counties of Nottingham, Leicester and Northampton. Many BR era posters will feature throughout this Volume.
9th March 2010
The second volume on Yorkshire and the North East is complete and all the files are now with Amadeus Press. This means final proofs can be produced in a couple of weeks. A huge amount of digital cleaning has been done and the book positively radiates colour. We have been told to expect the finished product around 14th May 2010. This is a large book, coming in at 290 pages with 388 posters. Even then I had to leave out some gems! With a text is just over 71,000 words, it is by far the most complete treatment of railway posters of all eras from this area. The oldest is 1845 and the most recent 1996. Readers will see the steady evolution of posters through the work. It will formally be launched at the GWRA Pershore Railwayana Auction on 22nd May (www.gwra.co.uk). Below is a sample page from the end of the book, where modern posters are discussed, and alongside a section from the extensive database for the area, developed jointly with Valerie and Simon Kilvington. The book promises to give readers a wonderful journey in time and art.
We have been heavily involved with writing articles for magazines. The first was the March Edition of Scottish Memories where I look at Edinburgh and Stirling (www.scottish-memories.co.uk). Draft articles have also produced for Shropshire Life (April 2010) (www.Shropshire.greatbritishlife.co.uk) and Herefordshire Life (May 2010). A short series of articles is also being published in Railway Antiques Gazette, charting the development of posters decade by decade (www.rag-mag.co.uk). All will form useful references for poster collectors. Finally take a look at the Travelling Art Gallery (TAG) website where many more carriage prints and panels have recently been uploaded (www.travellingartgallery.com). We are working closely with TAG to ensure good coverage of each region in art.
23rd February 2010 - Gloucestershire Echo
2nd February 2010
I finished the drafting of volume 2 on schedule at the end of January. This is going to be a large book, as evidenced by the completed draft alongside. There will be over 280 pages, featuring 386 posters with a 70,000 word accompanying text. We are now putting the whole thing together to go to press at the end of this month. It will be available in April. We already have a great deal of interest and the area posters, in print together for the first time, are eagerly anticipated by many collectors. Advance ordering for Volume 2 will soon be available on this website.
6th January 2010
Firstly, Judi and I wish a Happy New Year to all the many site visitors and poster lovers.
The year has not started well weather-wise, but did start well for us on the poster book front. Poster to Poster Volume 1 was named as Scottish Non-fiction Book of the Year 2009 in the literary year end awards from the Edinburgh Evening News. (This is part of the Scotsman Newsgroup to whom we sent the book for review). The literary critique appeared in the Boxing Day issue of the paper and can be found on our reviews page. This was quite unexpected and naturally we are delighted that the many years of work have been recognized.
The progress on volume 2 is also been good and I am now in York writing chapter 9, with more than 210 pages behind me. By the end of chapter 8, I had used 308 posters. There are some real rarities included, so I hope I this meets some of the helpful input received after the appearance of volume 1.
24th December 2009
A review of the series led to the decision to increase the number of books in the series from seven to eight. The sheer number of London and Southern England posters clearly showed two books would be necessary to cover the area in the same detail as volume 1. Therefore we decided to split the southern area into Volume 6: London and the South-East and Volume 7: The Glorious South-West. Details of the geographical split and where your own county will now feature are found on the future volumes page and we have revised the information accordingly on the Poster Series page.
Book sales during December exceeded our predictions, many volumes being bought as Christmas presents, so thank you to everybody who called and wrote to us this past month.
Finally volume 2 has again moved on and is now approaching 75% complete. I am currently in the Yorkshire Dales and having the nice problem in deciding what posters to include and what to discard. This area did produce some superb BR posters and many will appear in a book for the first time. The drafting and layout work means we are still on course for Easter-time 2010 availability.
27th November 2009
Good progress in the past month on all fronts. The second Volume is 60% complete (I am now in Hull) and sales of the Scottish book are increasing in time for Christmas. The picture on the right shows the second large shipment in a week to the leading UK wholesalers in Eastbourne. All of these will be in the shops within a week. Adverts have been placed in Heritage Railway, Steam Railway, Steam World and Best of British magazines.
We are very encouraged by the overall reception the Scottish Poster book has received. The book has been reviewed by several critics and all can be found on our reviews page.
In Volume 2, the journey from Berwick to Hull means we have used 225 posters so far. I had planned to reduce the number of posters down to around 330, but this proved almost impossible and instead I will increase the size of the book to accommodate ‘some crackers’.
20th November 2009
Volume 2 is over half completed. I am currently in Hornsea, East Yorkshire after the wonderful journey down the Yorkshire Coast. The Chapters about Scarborough, Filey, Flamborough and Bridlington are packed with masterpieces. It has been so difficult to decide what to leave out, that I put most of the main selection back. There are now over 60 quite wonderful posters to see in these chapters. I am sure readers in East Yorkshire will be proud of the heritage I am showing. Just two are depicted below: both are rarely seen. They are low-res and watermarked to avoid copying.
The autumn auction scene is into full swing and we attended Pershore (14th): will be at Newark (21st) and at the end of year Sheffield Railwayana Auction Derby on December 5th. We have fliers now giving details of volume 2.
25th October 2009
We are happy to report that we have just been accepted as full Members of the Independent Publishers Guild. Based in Wales, this Trade Organization supports us professionally in pursuit of technical and customer excellence. We have been given special permission to use their logo on this website to show our affiliation.
Other activities in the past few weeks include a visit to Gardners, the UK’s largest book wholesalers, who are now stocking the Scottish poster book to supply Waterstones, Borders and other good UK bookshops. Readers can therefore order either on-line at this website or through your local bookshop. When ordering locally please quote ISBN No. 978-0-9562092-0-7 to make things easier.
Volume 2 is now progressing very well. At the time of writing I am in Scarborough, having finished the Introduction and first 3 chapters. Our journey from Saltburn to Robin Hood’s Bay has enabled 38 posters to be used. Many are unusual and previously unseen. Whitby is an especially rich town for railway posters. Overall we have used over 140 posters so far and the final count will be larger than for the Scottish volume.
5th October 2009
September saw a flurry of activity and promotional work. Sales are good and steady. Following a week in Scotland, many of the Waterstones branches in Southern and Central Scotland have ordered the book. We had very good encouragement from Leith, Princes Street (East and West), Sauchiehall Street, Stirling, Ayr, St. Andrews and Dunfermline in particular. Thank you to all the Managers we saw who gave of their time. Borders in Dundee and Glasgow have also taken the book. Two shops in Wigtown (Scotland’s Book Capital) also took the book in time for the literary festival in late September. These are Book Corner and The Book-Shop. Links will be added to our links page so Scottish residents have a local source of supply.
We had two book signings in the month: at Christies in London and at the NRM in York. The York event attracted attention in the Yorkshire Post and that article is found on our reviews page.
We have had several requests to supply full and half size reproduction posters from the book. Sadly our licence with the Science Museum precludes us from doing this, but we can recommend Travel Posters Online and the SSPL website as places to obtain copies. Follow the links on our links page to these two recommended sites. Some of the originals are now prohibitive in terms of price and a high quality repro can be almost as good.
Finally progress on volume two is steady. The Introduction and first two chapters are completely drafted and work is underway on Chapter 3. This part of the journey sees us travel from Redcar to just north of Scarborough on the scenic Yorkshire coast.
2nd September 2009
Sales are very encouraging in our first month. We have had several reviews, the latest being in the September Edition of Heritage Railway. We also supported the success bank Holiday Steam Event at Didcot Railway, where “Tornado” was running. As I am a Member at Didcot, a good contribution from the sales of each volume has helped swell Great Western Society funds. We are planning to be in Scotland during September, supporting several Waterstones Bookshops, who are now taking the book. Next week sees us in London, supporting the September Christies auction of transportation posters. There are some rare and desirable items on offer, including two posters not previously known. Full details are found at www.christies.com or follow the direct link from our links page straight to their website.
Writing work on Volume 2 is now proceeding well. The first chapter is complete and the Introduction section is more than 50% written. Three other chapters are laid out, but the whole journey is now planned and the posters selected. A sample page from Chapter 1 appears below. Notice these are two uncommon posters from BR days and will be typical of the many unseen posters that will appear in this volume.
1st August 2009
Response to the book has been very positive. We feature on the rear cover of the next Christie’s poster catalogue for their forthcoming poster auction in London in September. We have also been asked to attend the preview party, where the book will be available, and can be signed as required. This high profile event is, we hope, the first of many. We are also working closely with Waterstones so that selected stores will soon be selling the book. Naturally these are mainly in Scotland. The book is currently being reviewed by travel and book critics. The work has so far been extremely well received and welcomed as long overdue. We are still looking for poster images, especially the more colourful and modern ones. Two more sample pages are shown below.
18th July 2009
The first consignment of books arrived yesterday from Yorkshire. It really is a book from ‘The Top Drawer’ as termed by the Printers. The overall quality of the finished book is exceptional. It is the most important general railway poster book to have been published for almost twenty years, and the several hundred already-ordered copies give us a powerful send off.
We will be launching the book formally at the Great Central Railwayana Auction at Stoneleigh today. This coincides with the strong Scottish flavour from the auction itself, when many wonderful artefacts from the late John Bourhill’s collection will go under the hammer. With books to hand, we can now guarantee shipment within 24 hours of receiving orders via this website.
23rd June 2009
Printing of the first volume of 256 pages is now well underway. After examining the final pages in Yorkshire yesterday, the overall very high quality of the book can now be appreciated. Amadeus Press have done a first rate professional job. We are told they will be available in 4 weeks. This is due to the slightly slower than normal printing speed (to ensure quality) but also because the binding is appropriately being undertaken at Haddington, near Edinburgh by Hunter & Foulis. They are renowned for their high standards. Planning work on Volume 2 is well advanced and this promises to be another stunningly colourful work. There are currently 373 posters designated for inclusion, but this number will reduce slightly due to space constraints (Scottish Volume has 332 posters). Further details can be found on the Volume 2 page.
25th May 2009
A visit to the printers last week sees the book over half type-set. A lot of the images are being digitally enhanced to take away marks, damage, folds and foxing. This means the published images are clearer than the originals, so readers can see the beauty of the original poster. The whole book will be at press in two weeks and we have been promised books by the end of July. New images have been added to the gallery and over the coming weeks we intend to expand the array of posters on show here.
5th May 2009
We are now taking advanced orders for Volume 1 of Poster To Poster. Online orders can be placed through the Railway Posters website.
Click here to order
22nd April 2009
- The extensive library of thumbnails put together over the past seven years is well over 15,000 but more are sought. We are especially interested in the more unusual posters right through the 20th Century. Some examples are shown below.
- We will be attending the forthcoming railwayana auctions at Stoneleigh 24th April (Great Central Auctions), at Pershore on 16th May (Great Western Railwayana Auctions) and Derby on 13th June (Sheffield Railwayana Auctions). A final version of the text and images in the volume that shortly goes to press will be on display. Sample posters will also be displayed.
- Final graphics work is proceeding well, now that the writing phase is finished. Book will be over 240 pages and more than 65,000 words. It represents the first serious poster book on British Railway posters for well over 15 years. Since the last general book on railway posters was published, much new data has come to light.