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Original WW1 1915 British Government Parliamentary Recruiting Committee Recruitment Poster No.75 WOMEN OF BRITAIN SAY – “GO!” By Artist E / Kealey Printed By Hill Siffkin & Co Ltd London. HO 670 - HO 670 Although the technology to enable the relatively inexpensive mass production of high quality images had been in existence for over a century, the First World War saw the first extensive use of posters for propaganda purposes. The British Parliamentary Recruiting Committee (PRC) was a thirty member body organized by political party organizers, under the supervision of the War Office, with the express aim of aiding the raising of troop numbers in Britain’s volunteer army. The main modes of appeal were through mass recruiting rallies and through posters and pamphlets that encouraged enlistment. Within a few weeks of the outbreak of the war the designs of poster began to incorporate striking graphic images. Some 200 different posters were produced and distributed by the PRC over the course of the War. War posters were intended to be ephemeral and never meant to be archival or historical documents. Yet, because of the content of the messages they projected they have become an important resource by which we can today explore the mind set of those who believed passionately in the rightness of the cause and the necessity to wage War between 1914 and 1918. This is an original WW1 dated British Government PRC recruiting PRC Poster No.75. The paper poster measures 30” x 19”. In the poster a woman stands at an open window, accompanied by her daughter and son, watching British soldiers march past. In the background are green hills and a clear blue sky with bold white lettering WOMEN OF BRITAIN SAY - “GO!”. Rather than using a simple call to arms, the poster, on the one hand, pictures the women & Children of Britain as defenceless and in need of protection while at the same time appeals to the same women to press their men-folk into service for King and Country. The artists printed signature ‘E / Kealey’ is incorporated in the top right corner of the scene. The bottom edge of the poster has crisp printing ‘Published by the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee London Poster No.75’ & ‘Printed by Hill Siffkin & Co LPA Ltd Grafton Works London N W2831 10M 5/15 (May 1915)’. The fragile poster has some old tears and several old repairs. All of the printing is clear and bright with vivid colour. The poster comes with its cardboard storage tube in which it was found. HO 670 (in its tube on shelves in corridor underneath book section)
£475.00
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