Postcard, letterpress, 'YOU Are The Man I Want', published by The Regent Publishing Co. Ltd., Britain, World War I, 1914-1918.

Postcard in portrait format. On the front: colour printed image reproducing the famous recruiting portrait of Field Marshal Kitchener pointing at the viewer with the words 'You Are The Man I Want' lettered within the image. On the back: postcard template and publisher's information printed in brown, V&A Museum stamp, number and pressmark in black.

This postcard formed part of a group transferred from Photographs to Prints for accessioning. In the process of cataloguing them and releasing them from the boards onto which they had been mounted it was discovered some of the postcards had already been numbered with 1969 numbers (now noted in the 'other number' field as 'numbered in error'). When the Photographs accessions register for 1969 was consulted two unrelated groups of material with the same run of numbers was discovered. One of these groups, which included this postcard was credited as being 'Given by Mrs Harrington'. Registry could find no record of a donation from a 'Mrs Harrington'.

By the early 20th Century greetings postcards had overtaken folder cards in popularity as they were cheaper to post. A ban on Christmas cards to conserve supplies of paper was mooted during the First World War but the idea was abandoned in the interests of maintaining the troops' morale. This card reproduces the famous image of Field Marshal Kitchener which appeared in several versions on magazine covers and recruitment posters of the time and has been parodied countless times since.

E.400-2008