Page:Picture Posters.djvu/385

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THE PRICE OF THE POSTER.
365

the result that several of them command large prices. Thus the "Librairie Romantique," which was offered in 1891 for three francs, was priced by the same dealer in November, 1894, at twenty. What is going on in the case of Chéret, Grasset, and Lautrec, is going on, though it may be somewhat less rapidly, in the case of those other artists who have assisted to make the French affiche the charming and artistic thing it is.

The posters of those artists who were the pioneers of the artistic poster movement in England are extremely rare. They worked in the days before the English collector existed, and any copies of their designs not actually posted, probably fell into the hands of the waste-paper dealer. I have been unable to trace any copies of the advertisement done by Fred Walker for "The Woman in White," but the original design has been recently exhibited in London, and the price put upon it by its owners is seventy guineas. Copies of Mr. Walter Crane's "Hippodrome" bill are extremely rare, as are those designed by Professor Herkomer for the "Magazine of Art," "Black and White," and the exhibition of his own works. Turning to the younger men, it is interesting to note that Mr. Dudley Hardy's "Yellow Girl" sells in Paris for twenty francs, the large "Gaiety Girl" for half as much, and the smaller bills for the same play for five francs. The first poster which