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Post Early for Christmas

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Image of BPMA Christmas cards

We released our first Christmas cards for sale in December 2005. They feature some of the classic 'Post Early for Christmas' posters from the 1940s and 50s. Purchase by post or in person at The Royal Mail Archive. Visit our Shop section to find out more.

The first notice to 'Post Early for Christmas' was issued in 1881, but it was not until the 1930s that the Post Office really began experimenting with graphic posters as a way of advertising its services to the public.

The use of posters really took off in 1933 when Stephen Tallent was appointed as the GPO public relations manager. He chose to commission work from talented young artists to produce posters for publicity inside and outside the GPO. Today we have over 5000 posters in The Royal Mail Archive, dating from the early 1930s to our ongoing collection of the today's designs.