This is extraordinary: the Behrend Family 1927, watercolour on paper. It was the sketch for what became an oil painting that is now in Brighton. Mary and Louis Behrend were great patrons of the arts and in particular encouraged Stanley Spencer.

Henry Lamb (1883-1960) is a Persephone Books favourite, partly because of his famous portraits of Lytton Strachey and Evelyn Waugh and partly because – well, his work is superb. There is an exhibition in Salisbury until September, details here, and a selling exhibition which finished yesterday at Messums in Wiltshire. As with the posters last week, we shall indulge in some fantasy buying. Village Scene, possibly Coombe Bissett is an (undated) watercolour that was on sale (but must have sold) for £2650.

And lastly, Lot 106: another Lili Réthi (1894-1971) Post Office Motor Transport Depot, original GPO poster PRD 209 1937 – 74 x 92 cm. Bidding details here.

And this is very tempting too: Lot 170 David Gentleman (b. 1930) Visitor’s London, original poster printed for London Transport by McCorquodale 1956 – 102 x 127 cm.Estimate: £450 – 500.

Now this is very tempting: Lot 124 is by Elizabeth Blackadder (b. 1931) Staithes on the Yorkshire Coast, original GPO poster  printed by Curwen c.1960 – 74 x 92 cm. Estimate:  £200 – 300.

Lot 64 is Join the Wrens and Free a Man for the Fleet printed for HMSO by Weiner c. 1940. This poster would cause endless and animated discussion if framed and on the wall: it sums up in one sentence the vast change in society in 75 years.

So this week five posters that, in fantasy or possibly reality, who knows, we shall be bidding for at Onslows on July 13th. Telling a friend may mean telling the enemy dates from 1942 and is in the sale here; it is also at the V & A: ‘This poster, by an unknown artist, depicts the stereotype of the gossiping woman: the sailor tells his girl, who tells her friend, and the information eventually gets passed on to a suspicious character. What is interesting is that although the messengers are women, the source and ultimate recipient of the secret are both men, the women are simply the means by which it is transmitted to the enemy. Each has a different reaction to the news – passivity, surprise or guile – and it is the brunette who takes up the role of femme fatale. As with the more familiar slogan of “Keep Mum She’s not so Dumb”, the implication here is that women cannot be trusted to keep secrets, regardless of whether their disclosure is innocent gossip or espionage, so your friend’s friend may be your enemy.’