This is one of series of posters commissioned by Shell Mex in the 1930s to promote tourism by motor car to places that were not popular tourist sites. Ralph Allen was an entrepreneur, philanthropist and was notable for his reforms to the British postal system. His home, Prior Park, a Palladian house, was built to demonstrate the properties of Bath stone as a building material. On the crest of Bathwick Hill facing the city of Bath is the folly known as “Ralph Allen’s Sham Castle”, built in 1755. Richard Guyatt’s poster is a dramatic modernist view of this landmark, emphasising its’ theatrical character and framing it with the swooping lines of the walls running up and over the hill. Richard Guyatt was an influential British designer; he worked for several important British companies and also designed coins and postage stamps. From 1978-81 he was the Rector of the Royal College of Art.