Articles

“Christmas Cards.—‘Here we are again!’ as they come tumbling in, fresh from the hands of the publishers, Hildesheimer and Faulkner. More artistic than ever!” — Punch, 6 December 1890 By the final decades of the nineteenth century, few names were more closely associated with high-quality Christmas and greeting cards than Hildesheimer & Faulkner. Their annual…

It was a pleasure on a recent visit to London to take in ‘Showtime’ at the Charles Dickens Museum: a small but fascinating exhibition (open until 18 January 2026) with some very rare playbills, including several from an important private collection purchased with the assistance of the National Heritage Arts Fund and other major funding…

With the passing of Professor Emeritus Michael Twyman, the printing and ephemera worlds have lost a giant. It is not just that Michael’s knowledge dies with him, although he had so much still to tell us. But beyond the multitude of meticulously researched books, articles and lectures was a brilliant teacher, a man fully engaged…

Who would have thought that a wartime parachute could find a second life as nightwear? This ingenious leaflet from the 1940s shows how creativity and practicality went hand in hand when clothing coupons were scarce. Stagg & Russell Ltd, Leicester Square, London, WC2 197 × 248 mm Circa 1940s With resources strictly limited, ingenuity became…

We are pleased to announce Ephemera Books Plus, a tool enabling you to explore your collecting or research interest by genre or theme. It encompasses not only books and articles, but blog posts, web pages, podcasts and videos on YouTube and elsewhere. It is intended for novices and experts, collectors and scholars, anyone and everyone.…

If you have a chance to go to Paris between now and 6 July, don’t miss ‘L’Art est dans la rue’: a feast of some 230 posters (and related photographs, short films, paintings, ephemera and artefacts). Fig. 1 Travel poster by Theodore Steinlen, printed by Imprimerie Édouard Ancourt, [1896], colour lithography, 137 x 95 cm.…

The umbrella of ephemera shelters collectors with a wide range of specialist interests. Although they may find a highly specialist corner such as philately or deltiology, they will invariably find a kindred spirit in the broader universe of ephemera collectors. This note is about one of those cross-disciplinary elements of collecting. Members of The Ephemera Society will…

Amoret Tanner, writer and collector, is a Founding Council member of the Ephemera Society. Here she examines the ephemera of Britain in mourning. Most collectors accumulate, almost by chance, examples of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century black-edged card supplied by the local undertaker from stock. The cards enabled relatives to announce their bereavement…

Ephemera Society dealer Roger Knowles always has some interesting things at his stand when I see him at the Ephemera Society’s Fairs. The last one was no exception. Among the many ephemera gems that he had on offer were a number of copies of The Patent Journal and Inventors’ Magazine. Wait a minute. I have…

‘Book-plates’ first appeared in Penrose’s Pictorial Annual, Vol XIII, 1907–8 at which time the editor was William Gamble, the otherwise anonymous author of the article below. Penrose’s began in 1895 by which time printing had become as much concerned with photographic reproduction and chemistry as it was with typography and layout and topics of this…