Particularly, valuable parts of the Library collection are the 260 posters that come from, mostly from the recoveries of the war, subsequent seizures, or deposits made when our city was the capital of the Republican Spain.

This collection of left wing nature, if we take into account the historical circumstances where arise it, is a valuable material with which to study the aesthetical values, the political aspects, personal implications, etc. as well as the development of our graphic arts. The poster explosion that occurred during the War was a response to the need for propaganda and incitement in a confrontation eminently popular, which required a suitable means of artistic expression.
These posters from the Civil War remained intact in the “hell” of the Library for many years, a circumstance that has helped in its preservation.
Many prestigious poster artists are present in this collection, as Antonio y Arturo Ballester, Amster, Bardasano, Padial, Monleón, Wila o Renau, among others.

Their styles are varied, from who introduced the maximum possible pictorial characteristics as Dubón, to the representatives of avant-garde trends of that moment as Contreras.

The thematic is also varied, related to the needs of war (such as political or trade union propaganda, anti-fascism, the stimulus of production, etc), expression of the policy priorities of the Republic (culture, health care, etc.).

Edited by political and trade union (UGT, Socorro Rojo, CNT, etc) or government organizations (Ministry of Public Instruction, Dirección General de Bellas Artes(Department of Fine Arts, etc.), most of them were made in Valencian printing houses (Gráficas Ortega, Litografía J. Ariño, etc.)

This collection has been studied, among others, by Facundo Tomás, Javier Pérez Rojas and José Luis Alcaide.

In 2002, the University organized an exhibition entitled “Art i Propaganda”, where it was showed a great part of the collection; there is a database, with a documentary appendix, of this exhibition.

You can access this collection of posters in our catalogue Trobes by clicking on the following link: Posters

In addition to this collection, the library has an important collection of posters made in Valencia, from the years when it was the depository of the Legal Deposit