London Transport Posters

September 28, 2007 2:35 AM

The London Transport Museum's Poster Collection is now online. 5,000 posters and 700 original poster artworks, ranging from No need to ask a p'liceman!, the 1908 poster introducing the new underground map, to a stunning image by Man Ray, via Hans Unger's simple, beautiful Country Churches: How To Get There.
posted by jack_mo (13 comments total)

Great link. Too bad I still can't find an online source to buy that creepy "Beneath Watchful Eyes" poster.
posted by Telf at 2:55 AM on September 28, 2007

This is a fabulous collection jack_mo. I love the seaside postcard treatment of the p'liceman poster, so english.
posted by tellurian at 4:31 AM on September 28, 2007

On the Country Churches poster, he uses red numbers for the Green Line buses. Makes sense to me.
posted by grouse at 5:50 AM on September 28, 2007

Runs off to find an mp3 of "MIND THE GAP" to play while looking at these
posted by Danaid at 5:51 AM on September 28, 2007

Brilliant. Some of the best art, design & typography from the UK in the past 11 decades.
posted by i_cola at 6:06 AM on September 28, 2007

What a great find. Thanks, jack_mo.
posted by mediareport at 6:30 AM on September 28, 2007

Thanks for the post, jack_mo, great stuff here. Gotta say, though, that wasn't Man Ray's finest hour... I reckon he got a decent fee for the gig, though, so it's all good!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:16 AM on September 28, 2007

The last thing that I saw
As I lay there on the floor
Was "Jesus Saves" painted by an atheist nutter
And a British Rail poster read "Have an Awayday - a cheap holiday - Do it today!"
I glanced back on my life
And thought about my wife
'Cause they took the keys - and she'll think it's me
And I'm down in the tube station at midnight
The wine will be flat and the curry's gone cold
I'm down in the tube station at midnight
Don't want to go down in a tube station at midnight
posted by UbuRoivas at 7:32 AM on September 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

aw, damn.

no search results for "a cheap holiday do it today"

that's entertainment, i guess.

(it's over there, on the left, between "beyond the city" and "events")
posted by UbuRoivas at 7:36 AM on September 28, 2007

Well, "Down In The Tube Station At Midnight" is at least located smack-dab in the middle of Plot Hole Central. :)
posted by soundofsuburbia at 9:09 AM on September 28, 2007

Fantastic, thanks.
posted by athenian at 9:58 AM on September 28, 2007

Oddly, I can't find one from the late nineties that was above the bed my then-girlfriend* and I shared in Belsize Park, which had as its slogan "What is it that brings lovers together? The same thing that takes them home." I'm sure we bought it at the LT Museum, which makes it strange that it's not in the online collection. Not least because it was lost in our last house move and I want to replace it.

* now wife
posted by athenian at 11:41 AM on September 28, 2007

Plot Hole Central? i don't get it - there's a hole in the 'plot' of the song?
posted by UbuRoivas at 4:28 PM on September 28, 2007