TOM ECKERSLEY (1914-1997) BE FIRST NOT LAST / TRAVEL EARLY SHOP EARLY POST EARLY. 1955. 40x25 inches, 101 1/2x63 1/2 cm. Condition B+: tears at edges; creases and abrasions in margins and image. Paper. Eckersley spent most of his pre-war career working with his old school friend Eric Lombers. Their work together for such prominent companies as Shell, the General Post Office and the BBC was marked by pronounced modernist influences. During the war Eckersley worked as a cartographer for the British Air Force and also produced "war effort" posters. After the war he worked free-lance with major clients like the General Post Office. He also founded the Graphic Design Department at the London College of Printing. Here, he employs a "visual gag" of the type made popular in the 1950s by Raymond Savignac. In fact, in 1951, Sauvignac used a similar humorous zebra to advertise Cinzano. Eckersley takes the gag one step further, showing two people dressed as a horse, where the man in front is happy to have sent his parcels early, versus the man in back is who is not. Modern British Posters p. 103 (var), GPO p. 65.
