Biannual Auctions of Vintage Posters and Ephemera Specialist Auctioneers for over twenty-five years now selling successfully on the Internet using the latest Live Bidding technology. Catalogues are now available free of charge through their website with live bidding through Liveauctioneers and the Antiques Trade Gazette auction platforms. Posters previewed together with others can be viewed in person at Dorset office by appointment. Collecting Posters Origins By the end of the 19th century the possibilities for poster designs were much improved by the process of colour lithography and artistic posters began to flourish in the 1890's. The Frenchman Jules Cheret is usually referred to as the "Father of the Poster." The increasing importance attached to advertising in 1890's gave impetus to the poster movement and the leading Parisian artists were Cheret, Toulouse-Lautrec, Steinlen, Grosset and Bonnard. French posters of this period for the theatre, cycles, cigarettes and drink, range from around £200 to several thousand pounds depending on the artist and graphics.