Julian Francis' book contains a wealth of images which illustrate the breadth of Herry Perry's talents and skills and which cannot be found easily anywhere else. For example, in the 1950s she was commissioned to design and paint pub signs for Barclay's brewery in London and for Friary Mieux in Guildford. The art of often short-lived, hand-painted pub signs is a dying one as this article, which includes a Herry Perry pub sign, makes clear. Fortunately, the book has many examples of her colourful, clever, eye-catching designs, such as this preparatory drawing.

Herry Perry is best known for her London Transport posters which were an important source of income for her. Commissioned by Frank Pick, she produced fifty-four posters which often incorporated pictorial maps, another area of her expertise and interest. This is ‘Kew’ (1929), which is not only full of factual interest, but also accurate in rendering 5 inches to a mile. 

A lesser-known aspect of Herry Perry's work were her book illustrations. This is a 1933 manual for the young housewife which includes recipes and notes on etiquette - before the publication of books such as How To Run Your House without Help - illustrated with colourful and amusing drawings. (Her name was sometimes hyphenated as on the cover here.)

Herry Perry's father did not approve of her going to art school and it was only after his death in 1924 that she was able to enrol at the Central School of Arts and Crafts  where she acquired many different skills. Of these, wood engraving was "her first love". She quickly became a very talented engraver and for years designed her own witty Christmas cards.

In March, we had Herry Perry on the Post which led to the discovery that she is the subject of a book by Julian Francis published last year. As the Creative Review said, it "shines a light on [her] illustrations and engravings, which, though largely forgotten, adorned hundreds of walls, signs, books and cards in the early to mid twentieth century". This is Herry Perry (1897-1962) in 1935/36 painting her Noah's Ark mural for RMS Queen Mary. She disliked her name, Anne Erica, and chose to be called Heather - Erica is Latin for heather - which was then shortened to rhyme catchily with her surname.

Beamish, The Living Museum of the North, is the most-visited attraction in County Durham. It is mostly made up of buildings which have been moved to the open-air museum  and are there to be experienced,  not simply looked at. Although they illustrate the region's industrial and social history, the recently created 1950s town also brings to life the period background of many of the mid-century Persephone novels.

Chapter in Cardiff one was of the first art centres in the UK, bringing together a "multi-artform programme" under one roof and centred around an open, accessible space. The building was previously Canton High School (1907) before the arts centre opened in 1971 and it was remodelled twenty years ago.