In addition to collecting movie posters themselves, I have also amassed a number of books about movie posters.

Whilst some of these are in English, an equal number I have found in France, where I live. Some of these are translations of books that are available elsewhere in English, but others are more specifically about French movie posters.

I had not really had much experience of French posters before moving to live here. My Brides Of Dracula ‘grande’, which I have had for years, is the only French poster I had bought previously. Now, I have literally thousands of them, both on the walls and in storage boxes. Many of these are more recent posters, which I bought in lots with the intention to sell. But I also now have a number of much older and very collectible French posters.

French posters from the 50s to the 70s have some fantastic illustrations, both for famous and unknown movies. These were usually done by a relatively small pool of prolific artists, notably Boris Grinsson and Jean Mascii, amongst others. The ‘grande’ size (160x120cm) is mighty impressive, albeit they need a lot of wall space and are expensive to frame. In general, I prefer vintage ‘moyenne’ posters (80x60cm), which are a good size for standard frames. I have particularly collected a number for Hammer horror movies from the 60s. 

Some of these are included in the horror book featured here. The other book I found in a flea market. It is more of a reference guide to historic French movie posters, although it does contain some photos of very old and rare posters, which almost certainly I will never get to own.