Although there is a large volume of specialist literature on posters, a brief but all-encompassing overview like the one this volume sets out to provide has been conspicuous by its absence. The approach is a combination of the historical and the present-day, pointing up the specific feature of the poster medium and providing an introduction to the history of poster theory and to poster research. As much attention is given to artistic, economic, political, social, legal and general culture-historical aspects as to the question of the techniques of poster production and the distribution and dissemination of posters. The volume concludes with a comprehensive bibliography.