My colleague recently passed me a printed Christies catalogue which is useless for my working place but absolutely useful for a London maps collector like me.

I am very interested in the posters with cartographic design:

1] Fred Taylor (1875-1963): The Pool of London (Lot. 54) and The Museums Kensington (Lot. 55)

2] Edward Bawden (1903-1989): British Empire Exhibition (Lot. 94)

3] Herry Perry (1893-1962): 'Kew' & 'Morden' (Lot. 169) and 'South Harrow', 'Hounslow' & 'Edgware' (Lot. 292)

4] Macdonald Gill (1884-1947): 'Peter Pan Map of Kensington Gardens' (Lot. 307) and 'Map of Central London' (Lot. 309)

But those prints are only for dreaming of but not of having because they are far expensive that I can afford. Fortunately, some of the prints have been reproduced in postcard format sold in the LTM shop.

The auction will be held on 4th October 2012 at Christie's South Kensington London.

This Posters with a Purpose: The London Transport Museum Sale is for LTM poster collections. For most of the circumstances, museums sell one or few important objects instead of the large part of the collection. The recent auction of museum object was the Picasso's 1901 painting housed at the Courtauld Gallery in London, also to Christies (p.13, Museums Journal, Vol. 112 No.4). However, I cannot find any news about this LTM's sale in any 2012 Museums Journals. The Museums's website obviously does not mention about the Christies' sale but the 'Covent Garden Dinner & Auction 2012' which happens on 18th September 2012. The Telegraph's website owns an article about the LTM poster exhibition and auction: Art market news: London underground posters are exhibited prior to sale.

David Bownes, Head of Collection of LTM stated in the auction catalogue (p.5, 2012) that 'Luckily, London Transport (as the Underground became known from 1933) kept duplicate copies of most of the posters it produced, and it is from this collection of spares that the selection offered for sale is drawn. In preparing the auction with Christies, LTM has worked very closely with the Museums Association and TfL to ensure that the sale meets professional standards regarding the ethical disposal of collection items. All monies raised from the auction will be held in trust by LTM for dedicated use in connection with future acquisition, conservation and restoration.'

Free PDF catalogue for this auction (if you cannot find the file at the Christies website anymore, feel free to contact me) but LTM is selling the catalogue at £20.