Our initial focus when creating Old Town Print Gallery was on vintage photography. As we expand our collections, we've now added a new category of images: vintage posters. We've broken this category into three subcategories, which we'll discuss in this post.
About our Posters
As with our photography, we've restored these vintage posters to their original condition. All of our posters are available on fine art paper as well as stretched canvas. We'll be continuing to add to our poster collections, so be sure to check back every now and then to see what's new!
Print Sizes
Vintage posters were created in a wide variety of sizes, without any standard system. For our photography images, we offer nearly every image in standard sizes to make framing easier for our buyers. Unfortunately this isn't possible to do with our posters, as the original dimensions simple don't allow for standard size proportions.
Size Option Standardization
To solve this problem, we've created a system to keep our own sizing options for poster images standard. We've based the sizes we offer on the long dimension of the posters (this is most commonly the height, as the majority of posters are vertical, but for horizontal posters this will be the width). All of our posters are offered in the same long dimension options. So if you'd like to order multiple posters and hang them next to each other while maintaining a cohesive look, you can order multiple posters at, for example, 20" tall. The width of each poster will vary slightly, but since they will all be the same height, they will display nicely when hung in a row.
Types of Posters
As previously mentioned, we've broken the poster category down into three different subcategories. These subcategories are travel, military, and advertisement. We have found these to be the most common types of vintage posters, each serving a different purpose.
Travel Posters
The first type of poster in our new collection is travel posters. Before we had access to the wealth of images and videos that we have now, travel posters offered a glimpse of faraway destinations, calling travelers to visit. These posters advertise travel to different states and national parks within the United States, as well as to other countries. The art on these posters offers a glimpse of what travelers can expect if they decide to make the trip and visit. Many of these travel posters were advertisements by specific airlines or trains, letting travelers know where they are able to go with those companies.
Military Posters
There are a few different types of military posters, each with a different target audience and goal. Some posters are encouraging viewers to enlist in the various branches of the military, while other posters seek to generate support for war efforts from civilians. These posters are a look into a different time in our history, when average citizens were more affected by distant wars, often being asked or required to participate in war efforts in one way or another.
Advertisement Posters
This category is rather self-explanatory, posters that are advertising different products, companies, and services. These posters hope to draw the viewer's attention and convince them to buy whatever it is they are advertising.
Stay Tuned for More!
We'll be continuing to update and add to our collection of posters, so if you don't see something that catches your eye just yet, check back again later! And if there's a particular subject you'd like to see, feel free to reach out and let us know. We can't guarantee we'll be able to find what you're hoping for, but we can certainly take a look and see what we can find.