For your Halloween enjoyment we present "The Commercial Vampire," a Leon Barritt cartoon from the July 20, 1898, issue of Vim, a short-lived satirical weekly published in New York. Painting department stores as bloodthirsty predators of small independent businesses, the same argument made today in some quarters against giant retailers like Wal-Mart and Amazon. View full size.

Based on circa 1950 fruit crate label artwork. (More examples here.) This sassy Santa print is guaranteed to put you in a holiday mood. View full size.

Printed in 1939 by His Majesty's Stationery Office on orders of England's Ministry of Information, "Keep Calm and Carry On" was, despite being run off in vast quantities along with two related posters, never seen during World War II; the event that would have triggered its release -- a German invasion of the British Isles -- never happened. And so the posters, bearing the crest of King George VI, were shredded in 1945, with a small number saved in the archives of the Imperial War Museum. It was not to emerge again until 2000, when a tattered copy was discovered lining a box in a secondhand bookstore in Northumberland.

Since then its alt-appeal has grown to the point where the design has become a full-fledged Internet meme, variations of the "Keep Calm" sentiment appearing on blogs, mugs, T-shirts and posters. Now including this one presented by Vintagraph and printed by Juniper Gallery on a variety of archival stocks in the original red as well as other hues. You will probably not find a nicer version of KCaCO offered in as wide a choice of sizes and colors, with the original typography -- font, proportions and spacing faithfully reproduced. Hang one in your office, den or dorm and you'll find yourself Carrying On with surprising serenity.

Six of seven WPA posters by Louis B. Siegriest (1899-1989) promoting American Indian art at the Golden Gate International Exposition in 1939. Available as Vintagraph fine-art prints, made from ultra high-resolution scans of the original serigraphs -- very detailed and quite beautiful. View full size | Shop the art.

The 1930s posters done for the Works Progress Administration have proven to be especially popular in the Shorpy gift shop, so Juniper Gallery has started Vintagraph, a Web site dedicated to high-quality reproductions of this unique artwork on museum-grade French art paper. Favorites include the curiously popular Keep Your Teeth Clean as well as the heroically proportioned Don't Jay Walk. We're adding new posters every day at www.vintagraph.com.

"The Works Progress Administration in Ohio presents the Federal Theatre for youth in 'A Christmas Carol.'" This poster for the Federal Theatre Project presentation of "A Christmas Carol" was created between 1936 and 1941.
View full size | Vintage Christmas Photos

From 1939 and Alexander Dux, a Works Progress Administration/Federal Art Project poster promoting tourism. View full size. Now a fine-art print.

A 1939 Works Progress Administration/Federal Art Project silkscreen poster promoting Sea Cliff, Long Island. View full size. Now a fine-art print.

A 1937 Works Progress Administration/Federal Art Project poster asking New Yorkers to keep the premises clean. View full size. Now a fine-art print.

A Works Progress Administration Federal Art Project poster from 1941 extolling the benefits of retail commerce. View full size. Now a fine-art print.

A circa 1940 Illinois WPA Art Project poster promoting literacy. View full size.

A 1938 promotional poster showing the many types of winter sports available in Arosa, Switzerland: Ice hockey, ice skating, skiing, and curling. View full size.

A Federal Art Project poster promoting winter sports in New York: "They like winter in New York State. The state that has everything." The poster was created by Jack Rivlota between 1936 and 1941. View full size.

In what we hope will be an annual tradition, we're pleased to open the season on the Shorpy/Plan59 Holiday Print, made at Juniper Gallery in Fairfax, Virginia, from an original 1938 painting by noted Fortune magazine illustrator Antonio Petruccelli that we purchased at auction last fall in New York. The prints, struck on French art paper with archival inks, are very detailed and quite beautiful.
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The spirits do come back, if you stay for the second show. 1915 poster advertising an appearance by the magician Howard Thurston (1869-1936), the "King of Cards." Strobridge Lithography, Cincinnati & New York. View full size.