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Ephemera Events & Exhibitions

The Ephemera Society Fair · Sunday 3 December 2023

Winter Ephemera Fair

A window into the past for both the curious and the collector — find rare, unusual and historic paper items, priced from £2 to over £2000. A huge range of ephemera will be on display. The fairs will be on for one day only so make a note in your diary now, we look forward to seeing you there!

  • Holiday Inn London Bloomsbury
  • Coram Street
  • London WC1N 1HT
  • United Kingdom
  • Entry £3 · 11am - 4pm · All welcome
  • Members from 10am

Interested in booking a table for the fair? Reserve your space - download the booking form

For more details call 01923 829079 or email

Join us! The Ephemera Society is always pleased to welcome new members. Payment can be made online by PayPal.

 

Georgian Illuminations

Until 7 January 2024


Vauxhall Gardens
Tom, Jerry and Logic making the most of an evening at Vauxhall from Life in London by Pierce Egan, engraved by I R Cruikshank and George Cruikshank, Published by Sherwood, Neely & Jones. 1821.

This exhibition will concentrate on specific, well-publicised light shows of the period and the impressive and the elaborate temporary architectural structures created for them, often designed by leading architects and artists, including Sir John Soane.

Royal entertainments, pleasure gardens, national celebrations, and illuminations by Soane will all feature, demonstrating that these ephemeral cultural practices were drivers of architectural and technological innovation.

Newly discovered vast linen transparencies, which were back lit in Georgian windows as patriotic decoration during the Napoleonic Wars, will be placed on lightboxes and displayed for the first time in the Foyle Space.

  • Sir John Soane's Museum
  • 13 Lincoln's Inn Fields
  • London WC2A 3BP
  • UK

More details

 

 

Up in Arms: posters for protest, solidarity, engagement and action

Until 8 December 2023

Up in Arms poster This exhibition shows twentieth-century protest posters from diverse contexts and causes.

The phrase ‘up in arms’ is ambiguous. In one sense, it implies that a person is ready to fight actively. Used figuratively, however, it suggests a state of commotion or turmoil. Someone who is ‘up in arms’ might be acting aggressively, or in defence.

Some posters in the exhibition show arms and hands raised, pleading for harmful actions to be stopped. Images of raised fists and strong arms, sometimes holding guns, rally the viewer to take aggressive action in the name of freedom, civil rights, and equality. Some posters show hands joined, promoting unity and solidarity; while others show triumphant hands held high.

The posters are from the Lettering, Printing and Graphic Design Collections in the Department of Typography & Graphic Communication, University of Reading.

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Into Battle: The Art of British War Comics

Until 30 April 2024

Exhibition poster

This wonderful display examines the war comic’s heyday via original artwork – much of it on public display for the first time – to tell the story of war comics decade by decade.

A partnership with Rebellion Publishing, who bought the rights to Battle comic in 2016 and still publishes special editions of classics such as 2000AD, Roy of the Rovers and Battle Action.

The exhibition draws on their extensive archives and features spectacular covers and action-packed panels from War Picture Library and Battle Picture Weekly.

  • The Cloister Gallery (Ground Floor)
  • Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum
  • Park Street
  • Woodstock OX20 1SN
  • UK

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Postman's Knock

Dressed to Deliver

Until September 2024

You can spot your postie by their brightly coloured get-up, but what’s the history of their uniform and how has it changed?

This exhibition at The Postal Museum explores Britain’s famous postal uniform and how it has evolved throughout history.

From smartly dressed Victorians to modern posties and their activewear uniforms have helped make postal workers an iconic feature of life in the UK.

  • The Postal Museum
  • 15-20 Phoenix Place
  • London
  • WC1X 0DA
  • UK

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Victorian Virtual Reality: Photographs from the Brian May Archive of Stereoscopy

Until 25 February 2024


Portrait of Charles Dickens
Portrait of Charles Dickens. Brian May Archive of Stereoscopy.

This exhibition present highlights from the Brian May Archive of Stereoscopy to explore the 19th-century photography craze that, for the first time, enabled pictures to appear in 3D.

Through viewers, stereoscopic photographs and interactive elements, explore topics such as celebrity portraits, snapshots of Victorian life, scenes of satire and devilry found in Sir Brian May’s collection. Stereoscopic photographs and other artwork from Watts Gallery Trust’s own collection will feature among the loaned works.

  • Watts Gallery - Artists' Village
  • Down Lane
  • St. James’s
  • Compton, Surrey GU3 1DQ
  • UK

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Living Letters: Correspondence then and now

Until 3 March 2024

Writing a letterFor centuries letters have been key vehicles of human communication. This exhibition explores correspondence from the medieval period to the present and celebrates the letter’s enduring importance.

It examines letters’ capacity to chronicle all stages and aspects of human life – from birth to death – and to capture both the personal and the professional.

It reveals how they are powerful in their abilities to connect with and impact on the lives of others. It illuminates how letters are also deeply vulnerable, fragile objects whose preservation is liable to the vicissitudes of time, fashion, and chance.

  • Weston Gallery
  • Lakeside Arts
  • University Park
  • Nottingham NG7 2RD
  • UK

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Alphabets Alive!

Until 21 January 2024

ABC Primer

Alphabets Alive! brings the magic of books and alphabets to life, featuring more than 150 works inspired by the alphabet – manuscripts, prints, posters, sculptures, alphabet books and, especially, artists’ books in their many shapes, sizes, colours, materials and languages.

Trace how the centuries-old ABC book for teaching children to read has influenced modern alphabet books and artists' books, and discover how the simple structure of the alphabet inspires works that are playful, provocative and profound.

  • Bodleian Libraries
  • Treasury, Weston Library
  • Broad Street
  • Oxford OX1 3BG
  • UK

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