Page:Picture Posters.djvu/384

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364
PICURE POSTERS.

and characteristic specimens of Chéret's amazing colour, and as they only measure forty-nine by thirty-three inches, they are of manageable size, and should find their way into the portfolio of every collector. The set of unlettered decorative panels which were described in an earlier part of the book, is at present sold by all dealers for five pounds. It goes without saying that proofs before letters, or prints on special paper, of the posters of Chéret, or of nearly any other artist, are much more valuable than ordinary copies.

Most of the posters of other living French artists may still be procured for a few shillings, but it is extremely improbable that such a state of things will long continue to be the case. Already examples by men of the modern school, such as Toulouse-Lautrec, Anquetin, Bonnard, Steinlen, and Ibels, are in great demand, and collectors should use the present opportunity to procure a series of these curiously interesting designs before the prices rise. Even now, Lautrec's first attempt, "Le Pendu," has become rarissime, and is valued at something over a sovereign. What has happened in this case will doubtless happen in the case of "La Reine de Joie," "Jane Avril," and Lautrec's other posters. The designs of Grasset are rapidly taking their place by the side of those of Chéret in the estimation of collectors, with