Post Office Savings Bank c.1966-68 Very Rare 24 Colour Plate Booklet
 
Bibliographic Details
Title: Post Office Savings Bank
Author: Not stated
Artists: George Mackie, Walter Hoyle, Leonard Squirrell, Harry Stevens, Jack Merriott, Imre Hofbauer, Michael Foreman, Claude Mancaster, John Greene, Peter Wagon, Mildred Ratcliffe, Norman Jaques, Katiel Chapman, Peter Huveneers, Hugh Speers, Angus Rands, Brian O'Hanlon, Cavendish Morton, Kenneth Webb and Edward Wisson.
Publisher: Not stated; produced for the Post Office Savings Bank
Printer: Vincent Brooks, Day & Sons Ltd., England
Date & Edition: Undated, probably circa 1966–1968; no edition statement.
Format: Landscape stapled booklet
 
Historical & Bibliographical Context
An exceptionally unusual piece of British twentieth-century advertising and social-history ephemera, this booklet reproduces 24 full-colour paintings commissioned by the Post Office Savings Bank as promotional posters for Post Offices throughout Britain. Rather than presenting a single artist's work, it brings together a remarkable range of British commercial and poster art, depicting rural villages, historic towns, London streets and individual Post Office branches, with every plate identified by location and artist. It provides a fascinating visual record of how the Bank presented saving, accessibility and the local Post Office to the British public.
The booklet appears to belong to the Post Office Savings Bank's wider “Wherever You Go” publicity campaign. The National Archives preserves Post Office Savings Bank campaign leaflets and original publicity artwork, including a “Wherever You Go” series. A 1966 National Archives example from this campaign depicts the Iron Bridge in Shropshire and carries the same “Wherever you go…” Post Office Savings Bank message. 
The date is not printed and is an informed estimate. The strongest evidence is its reference to Investment Accounts, including the £50 qualifying balance and 2½% interest rate, and its use of the name Post Office Savings Bank. The Bank operated under that name until 1969, when the savings department was separated from the Post Office and reconstituted as the Department for National Savings. The booklet is therefore most plausibly dated c.1966–68.
Mildred Ratcliffe's Biddenden, Ashford, Kent image reproduced here is independently recorded as a 1960 work. Her work is held by The Postal Museum, The National Archives, the Imperial War Museums and Maidstone Museum & Art Gallery.
The booklet will appeal to collectors of Post Office history, British graphic design, commercial art, advertising, social and local history and twentieth-century ephemera.
Most importantly, I have been unable to locate another copy of this exact 24-plate compilation in the accessible online book trade, auction records or readily searchable bibliographical sources. This cannot establish that no other copies survive, but makes it an unusually elusive survivor.
 
About the Artists
The booklet's great collecting strength is its assembly of works by numerous named artists. Among them is Mildred Ratcliffe (1899–1988), an English painter, commercial artist and calligrapher who became closely associated with Post Office Savings Bank publicity. She transferred to the Bank's publicity unit in the 1920s and continued designing posters and promotional material for much of her career. Her work is now represented in several institutional collections. 
The range of contributors makes the booklet particularly appealing to collectors of British illustration and commercial poster art. Imre Hofbauer is independently recorded as the artist of Wherever you go there is a branch of the Post Office Savings Bank, demonstrating the wider significance of the campaign.
 
Binding & Exterior
Landscape-format booklet in printed paper wrappers, staple bound. The upper wrapper has dark blue lettering and a stylised downward-pointing key motif. Intact and robust, with very good overall presentation. Only light handling wear, including very small edge creases and light or small marks.
 
Interior Condition
The contents are in very good condition for an ephemeral publication of this type. The paper remains bright and clean, with only occasional very light foxing or small marks. No page tears, inscriptions or ownership marks.
All colour plates are present and checked, each with its location and artist attribution. They remain clean and securely bound.
The final two pages preserve valuable contemporary information on Post Office Savings Bank accounts, including ordinary and Investment Accounts, deposit limits, interest, taxation, withdrawals, joint accounts and accounts for clubs and societies.
 
Physical Details
Pages: Unpaginated; 24 full-colour plates plus introductory and rear text
Dimensions: Approx. 22.9 × 17.8 × 0.2 cm
Format: Landscape
Weight: Approx. 85 grams
 
Rarity Assessment
Very Rare
This is an unusually elusive piece of twentieth-century British promotional ephemera. Despite searching by title, subject, plate locations, named artists and distinctive campaign wording, I have been unable to locate another recorded copy of this exact 24-plate booklet in the accessible online book trade, auction records or bibliographical sources.
The National Archives confirms Post Office Savings Bank campaign leaflets and original publicity artwork, including the “Wherever You Go” series; individual campaign examples are known institutionally and on the market. This booklet gathers 24 different colour images, identifies their locations and artists, and survives in very good condition with every plate present. Such material was ephemeral and not produced primarily for collectors.
The Very Rare designation is based on the exceptionally limited traceable market and bibliographical presence of this specific compilation, not a claim that it is the only surviving copy. Other examples may remain in institutional or private collections without online cataloguing.