ABOUT THIS BOOK

Bold amalgams of graphic design, psychology, and art, election posters have remained unsung—and sometimes even maligned—since their inception at the beginning of the twentieth century. Through a careful selection from among the more than seven hundred posters in the Bodleian Library’s Conservative Party Archive, this lavishly illustrated volume charts the evolution of the election posters created by Britain’s Conservative Party.

Organized chronologically and by political period, each chapter begins with a brief introduction highlighting the major themes of the period as well as the specific issues individual posters were designed to engage. Together, the chapters demonstrate the changing fashions in and attitudes toward advertising, political ideology, and standards of acceptability in the election poster, and they offer fascinating insight into the strategies of the Conservative Party up to the present day. Rounding out the discussion is a foreword by advertising tycoon Maurice Saatchi, who discusses the posters from a communications and design perspective.

At a time when the new media seems poised to put an end to more traditional forms of mass communication, Dole Queues and Demons offers a timely retrospective of an enduring feature of the British electoral landscape.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Stuart Ball is a reader in modern history at the University of Leicester, where his research focuses on British political history during the twentieth century. He is the author of several books, including Winston Churchill and Mass Conservatism: The Conservatives and the Public since the 1880s.

REVIEWS

"Dole Queues and Demons has instant impact. It's powerfully evocative and Stuart Ball is the surest of guides through the politico-emotional geography."–Peter Hennessy, Queen Mary University

— Peter Hennessy, Queen Mary University

"These images are such fun. . . . Spawned from the Conservative Party archives at the Bodleian Library, [the book] offers a sumptuous selection of Tory propaganda covering more than a century of political warfare."—House Magazine

— House Magazine

TABLE OF CONTENTS