Europe Welcomes You : Use the Transatlantic Telephone : GPO publicity booklet PH402 : Post Office Telephones : London : 1937 : cover design by Eric C. Owen
By the mid-1930s the UK's Post Office publicity was widely regarded as being one of the most innovative amongst the public services. From being a rather stuffy Government department the Post Office had realised that to best sell its services, both postal and telephonic, it had to up the stakes when it came to the quantity and quality and this shows in a flood of posters and publicity material that used many of the most contemporary techniques. This was especially the case when it came to the telephone; this was still rather an expensive tool and to better sell the instrument and services to, say, the new and more affluent middle classes in their new suburban homes, much effort was put into marketing telephone services.
That said this rather fine item, a booklet issued in October 1937, and intended to exhort visitors from Canada and the US to "telephone back home" is in a niche rather of its own. Aside from the rather fine and eyecatching cover graphics by Eric C. Owen, the text is rather cleverly set against a backdrop of Canadian wilderness and US metropolis and includes details of the cost of calling back home. The booklet also gives details of such transatlantic calls from other European countries and time zones - the booklet was obviously aimed at visitors passing through the UK on their way to the Continent.
The one thing that does shine through are the costs of transatlantic calls; £5 11/- (Five Pounds and eleven shillings) for 3 minutes to the far west of the North American continent was serious money back then and show that the calls and the booklet must have been aimed at a very small market.
Europe Welcomes You : Use the Transatlantic Telephone : GPO publicity booklet PH402 : Post Office Telephones : London : 1937 : cover design by Eric C. Owen
By the mid-1930s the UK's Post Office publicity was widely regarded as being one of the most innovative amongst the public services. From being a rather stuffy Government department the Post Office had realised that to best sell its services, both postal and telephonic, it had to up the stakes when it came to the quantity and quality and this shows in a flood of posters and publicity material that used many of the most contemporary techniques. This was especially the case when it came to the telephone; this was still rather an expensive tool and to better sell the instrument and services to, say, the new and more affluent middle classes in their new suburban homes, much effort was put into marketing telephone services.
That said this rather fine item, a booklet issued in October 1937, and intended to exhort visitors from Canada and the US to "telephone back home" is in a niche rather of its own. Aside from the rather fine and eyecatching cover graphics by Eric C. Owen, the text is rather cleverly set against a backdrop of Canadian wilderness and US metropolis and includes details of the cost of calling back home. The booklet also gives details of such transatlantic calls from other European countries and time zones - the booklet was obviously aimed at visitors passing through the UK on their way to the Continent.
The one thing that does shine through are the costs of transatlantic calls; £5 11/- (Five Pounds and eleven shillings) for 3 minutes to the far west of the North American continent was serious money back then and show that the calls and the booklet must have been aimed at a very small market.