As we have noted in several prior posts, folks building private libraries owe much to institutional libraries.
Institutional libraries, by publishing catalogs of their holdings, provide book collectors with ready checklists of what to collect for their own libraries. The marketplace for used and rare books contains numerous titles that entered the marketplace solely because institutional libraries chose to deaccession some of their holdings. And institutional libraries, in their quest to attract supporters, often produce and distribute very attractive ephemera -- keepsakes, for example -- that are collectible in their own right.
Of all the ephemera that institutional libraries produce, though, perhaps none are so attractive and so collectible as the large advertising sheets known as library exhibition posters:
In the modern era, many institutional libraries make reproductions of these exhibition posters readily available to their patrons and other interested parties via library gift shops, online shopping and similar venues:
Original posters are another matter altogether. Patience and considerable sleuthing may be required to determine how an institutional library disposes of original exhibition posters once an exhibition is over. Is there, for example, any sort of written policy in place which determines how such material is disposed of? Is the library obligated to save the best possible copy of a particular exhibition's poster(s) for the library's own archives? Is there any sort of formal mechanism for disposing of the remainder -- direct or auction sales by the library itself, direct or auction sales through an affiliated friends group, etc.?
The situation will vary widely. Moreover, the folks who can best answer your questions are likely doing jobs that used to be done by 2, 3 or more people (thanks to continuing budget cutbacks in libraries across the nation). Assuming you can locate the right person to answer your questions, be respectful of the constraints within which they operate.
That said, exhibition posters are available from a wide range of institutional libraries for a wide variety of subjects:
These exhibition posters are especially collectible when they feature a publisher, author, or subject that one already is collecting books about:
As if you really needed something else to collect....!
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