THE SHELL POSTER BOOK with an...

THE SHELL POSTER BOOK with an introduction by David Bernstein (David R. Godine: $19.95; 92 pp., paperback original). The bylines in this snazzy collection of advertisements for British petroleum from ‘20s through the early ‘50s read like a Who’s Who of 20th Century English illustrators. Unlike the relentless, market-researched ads that blight contemporary billboards, many of these posters seem wonderfully irrelevant: What modern advertiser would OK a gouache painting bearing the slogan, “Antiquaries Prefer Shell”? This out-sized book proves that “tasteful advertising” isn’t always an oxymoron.