This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/10/2023
Keep Calm and Carry On. 1939. 29 ½ x 19 ¾”. Linen backed. Minor creases and repaired tears along central horizontal fold; slight nicks upper right; minor creases and repaired short tears at lower right. A-/B+. SCARCE. This poster was designed by Britain’s propaganda department, the Ministry of Information, in 1939. It was one of three posters produced in similar styles, each featuring the crown at the top and white text against bold colored backgrounds. While the other two posters, “Freedom is in Peril” and “Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution/Will Bring Us Victory,” were widely posted, “Keep Calm” was rarely displayed despite a print run of several million copies. Most copies were pulped during a wartime paper shortage, and the poster was little known until two copies were discovered in a bookshop in 2000.