About Vintage Poster Archives
A vintage poster is more than an attractive image. It is a record of persuasion: a glimpse of what a company, government or performer wanted people to believe. In an emigration advertisement, a new country could look like the answer to every difficulty at home. For Canadian Pacific, that vision could help sell an ocean crossing, a train journey and eventually a piece of land. Behind the beautiful picture was a carefully constructed business proposition.
That tension between design and ambition is what makes vintage posters matter. They show how places, products and ideas were packaged for the public—and how visual culture helped shape desire, memory and history. Vintage Poster Archives brings together travel and advertising, wartime propaganda, Soviet space exploration and the extraordinary promises of the magic show. Each image is chosen for its visual strength. We then research the world that produced it. Who paid for a poster can be as revealing as who drew it.
Some of the originals we have worked on have had rather less dignified lives. We have even restored damage from dog bites. The dog really did eat the poster...
Old yellowing Sellotape is a recurring adversary, and I was recently refused lighter fluid because the shop thought I was a solvent abuser. Apparently, buying six cans in two days counts as suspicious behaviour. I wanted it for removing the tape. There are moments when an interest in old paper can be quite difficult to explain.
We start with a high quality scan. Restoration then involves working through the damage in detail, following the contours of the illustration and the particular shapes of the original lettering. Colour has to sit convincingly across a repaired area. The texture of the printing needs the same attention as the artist’s signature or the small type at the foot of the sheet.
The restoration of Keep Mum took three days. That time went into bringing the design back together while retaining the character of the original printing.
Life behind the archive also includes Delores, a miniature dachshund with a considerable appetite for cheese.
Our restored reproductions are printed to order on 200gsm Enhanced Matte Fine Art Paper with pigment inks. Each is made for you and shipped from the UK, US or Canada, ready to frame in the way that suits your space. It is a considered way to bring an exceptional piece of poster history into your home.