{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1819369"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1819369/"}},"images":null,"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1819369","accessionNumber":"S.508-2026","objectType":"Poster","titles":[{"title":"Pantomime Stock Poster","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"Stock poster printed by the Ludo Press to advertise pantomime performances. The illustration features common fairy tale imagery that could be bought by theatres and production companies to advertise their pantomime, rather than commissioned posters for a specific production.\n\nThese two sheets are fragments of a larger poster for which the other parts do not survive. The two sheets depict a giant and a wall. The complete poster may have been a stock poster for<i> Jack and the Beanstalk </i>or have featured additional fairy tale characters that could be used for different pantomime stories. The scale of the giant suggests this was a very large poster, potentially a 9-sheet or 24-sheet intended for billboard advertising.\n\nThe Ludo Press Ltd is a family business founded in about 1920 when Alfred Jack Collins amalgamated with the printers Parsons and Baverstock, establisheding a printing press at 24, Buckingham Street, Charing Cross, London WC2, on premises formerly occupied by the printing firm J.F.E. Grundy. Much of the early business of the Ludo Press was associated with printing advertising matter for the nearby theatre trade, including high quality multi-sheet posters. The name Ludo Press is loosely related to their theatrical business, the Latin word Ludo meaning ‘I play’, while a member of the Board of Directors was also a Stage Magician who performed under the name The Amazing Ludo.\r\n\r\nFrom about 1940 until 2000 the Ludo Press operated from premises at 373 Earlsfield Street, London SW18, now called Ludo House, when the firm was managed by Alfred's son John Anthony Collins. The Ludo Press Ltd remains in family hands. In 2014 it is based in Walton on Thames and is owned by Jeremy Collins, the grandson of the founder Alfred.","physicalDescription":"Two poster sheets from a larger illustrated billboard poster. One two sheet depicting a giant's head in profile. One one sheet depicting a brick wall.","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"the Ludo Press","id":"A3656"},"association":{"text":"printed and published","id":"x38483"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"printing ink","id":"AAT187371"},{"text":"paper","id":"x30308"}],"techniques":[{"text":"colour lithograph","id":"x35545"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Colour lithographic printing ink on paper","categories":[{"text":"Entertainment and leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Theatre","id":"THES250537"},{"text":"Posters","id":"THES252963"},{"text":"Advertising","id":"THES49001"},{"text":"Pantomime","id":"THES266218"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":[],"imageResolution":"","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"005","id":"THES393056"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"005","id":"THES393056"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Poster","id":"AAT27221"}],[{"text":"Poster","id":"AAT27221"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"No","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"printed","id":"x46159"},"note":"This would have been printed at the Ludo Press premises at 24, Buckingham Street, Charing Cross, London, WC2."}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca.1930","earliest":"1925-01-01","latest":"1934-12-31"},"association":{"text":"printed","id":"x46159"},"note":"There is no proof of the printing date but stylistically it probably dates from the 1930s."}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Jeremy Collins","dimensions":[],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"The object was printed by the family firm, probably some time in the 1930s, and remained packed up with them until given to the museum in 2024.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Stock poster fragments printed for sale to theatres to advertise self produced or touring pantomimes, rather than an individual production. Colour lithograph, printed by the Ludo Press, ca.1930","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.508:1-2026","S.508:2-2026"],"accessionNumberNum":"508","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":2026,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-04-27","recordCreationDate":"2026-04-08","availableToBook":false}}