Flora and Fauna gift range

(London Transport Museum shop, Covent Garden Piazza, WC2E 7BB, www.ltmuseumshop.co.uk/gifts/ collections/floral-collection).

IN TIME for the festive season, London Transport Museum has produced a beautiful and affordable set of quality, serviceable giftware based on four 1929 transport poster designs by artist Walter E Spradbery (1889-1969).

The new Flora and Fauna range includes silk scarves, toiletry bags, canvas tote bags, and pocket mirrors, all depicting essential elements of Spradbery's artwork depicting natural beauty spots in and around the capital.

Born in East Dulwich, Spradbery studied at Walthamstow Art School before working as an art teacher.

He exhibited at the Royal Academy, and worked as a watercolourist, linocut artist and poster designer.

His poster designs were mainly produced for London Transport (1912-1944), but he also designed posters for BR and the LNER. A lifelong pacifist, he served in the Royal Army Medical Corps during the First

World War and was also an official war artist.

The silk scarves (£65 each) and canvas bags (£15) are available in two designs – St James's Park and Blackberry Sunday. The pocket mirrors (£10 each) are available in two designs – The General Leads the Way and Kew Gardens. The toiletry bags cost £15 and are available in all four poster designs.

Prints of the original poster designs can be made to order.

The museum's buying manager, Memet Bunyan, said: “Out of the vast collection of spectacular posters we care for at London Transport Museum, we picked Walter E Spradbery's vivid artworks for this range because their timeless beauty makes them as delightful to us today as they would have been to Londoners nearly 100 years ago.” HERITAGE DESIGNS FOR EVERYDAY USE