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Travelers to France in the 1890s became entranced by the colorful posters appearing on the streets of Paris. Nothing like those existed in the U.S. until Edward Penfield started designing posters for Harper's Magazine in 1893. Other publishers quickly followed and the “poster craze” was born. Their small sizes, c. 11x18, were designed for bookstores and enabled devotees to assemble significant collections. Designers and artists competed to produce startling posters. This fad lasted for about 10 years but, miraculously some collections survived. Poster Plus in the 1970s was able to find some of these treasures which were sold to collectors and found their way to museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
We still have some wonderful examples which we are pleased to offer:
Czar Nicholas II, the last Emperor of Russia, stands proudly crowning himself on the cover of this issue of Century after taking the throne in 1894. The Russian coat of arms takes flight as the double-headed eagle welcomes the last Romanov ruler.
