• Vintage-style book poster with the text 'Hurry for Books!' and an illustrated clown juggling books and a tuba, with a yellow hourglass marked 'Book Week' and dates 'Nov. 13-19'.
  • A vintage-style poster print with a white border, featuring a stylized illustration of a person reading and a red heart symbol. The text reads 'for a richer, fuller life' at the top and 'NATIONAL LIBRARY WEEK • APR.
  • Vintage-style poster artwork featuring a bright pink flamingo balancing a small book in its legs, with the text 'swing into books' and 'BOOK WEEK, NOVEMBER 1-7, 1964' on a cream background with a green band at the bottom.
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The Reading Room - Gallery Wall Set of 3 Book and Library Posters

The Reading Room - Gallery Wall Set of 3 Book and Library Posters

£64.00 GBP
£64.00 GBP £64.00 GBP
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A museum-quality reproduction · Sold unframed · UK & US orders ship free with no customs fees

Three mid-century American posters celebrating books and reading, sold together as a gallery wall set of three same-size prints: 'National Library Week' (1961), Bruno Munari's 'Swing Into Books' (Book Week, 1964) and Maurice Sendak's 'Hurray for Books' (Book Week, 1960).

Between the late 1950s and the mid 1960s, American libraries and publishers ran an unusually confident campaign for reading. National Library Week was launched in 1958 by the American Library Association and the National Book Committee, and each year's poster was commissioned from a working graphic designer; the 1961 edition, 'Wake Up and Read', gives the slogan to a reader with an arrow running straight from the open book to the heart. Children's Book Week, older still, was by then the Children's Book Council's flagship event, and its posters went to the illustrators of the moment.

Bruno Munari's 1964 poster is the most graphically inventive of the three. Munari, whose 'Design as Art' appeared in 1966, draws a flamingo in a single flat magenta and hangs a child reading from a swing between its legs. Maurice Sendak's 1960 poster predates 'Where the Wild Things Are' by three years and already has his line: a clown in a checked coat plays the tuba on a tightrope while books fly overhead. The National Library Week poster provides the typographic backbone. Hung as a row, the three read as one campaign, which in spirit they were.

Size Options

Available in these sizes:

  • A3 29.7 x 42.0 cm / 11.7 x 16.5 ins
  • A2 42.0 x 59.4 cm / 16.5 x 23.4 ins
  • A1 59.4 x 84.1 cm / 23.4 x 33.1 ins
  • 18 x 24 ins / approx. 45 x 60 cm
  • 24 x 36 ins / approx. 60 x 90 cm

Select using the Size menu above

Paper & Ink

  • Printed on museum-quality 300gsm heavyweight paper with archival inks for rich, vibrant colours and exceptional details.
  • All our posters and prints are sold unframed.

Shipping & Delivery

  • Our posters are carefully packaged and shipped in super-sturdy mailing tubes
  • Items typically ship within 1-2 business days of ordering
  • For our US customers: all US orders are printed and shipped within the United States. That means no customs duties, no import taxes, and no surprise fees.

Shipping prices (per order)

  • UK Standard shipping: Free
  • UK Expedited shipping (selectable at checkout): £5
  • USA: Free
  • EU: £6
  • Rest of the world: £8
  • International customers: unlock free shipping today when you fill your cart with £40 of prints or more - why limit yourself to just one piece of art when you can create a whole gallery!

Typical delivery times after dispatch:

  • UK 1-3 business days depending on shipping option selected.
  • USA & Canada 3-6 business days
  • EU 3-6 business days
  • Rest of the World 5-15 business days

You can find find more information about shipping here.

Returns

  • We gladly accept returns and exchanges within 30 days of purchase
  • Buyers are responsible for return shipping costs. Please contact us for our returns address

You can find more information on our returns policy here.

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