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8 Charley Harper posters — straight from U.S. Government original stockpiles — cheap, free shipping, no tax!

pam kueber - Updated: May 10, 2021

Retro Renovation stopped publishing in 2021; these stories remain for historical information, as potential continued resources, and for archival purposes.

Wow, here is a fantastic find: EIGHT Charley Harper posters originally produced for the National Park Service in 1986, 1990 and 1994, still available for sale from the Government Printing Office. The posters cost from $12 to $19, and get this: There is no cost for shipping and no tax! The eight, apparently still remaining from depleted stock are for the Glacier Bay, Rocky Mountains, Atlantic Barrier Islands, Canyon Country, The Alpine Northwest, the Sierra Range, Hawaii and Isle Royal. I snapped up one of each snap, crackle, pop!

charley harper poster

With Charley Harper so popular today, there are a number other sites online selling these posters for as much as $50. I looked quick — and these seem to be the very same posters
that you get from Uncle Sam. Many thanks to reader Elaine, who pointed out this great deal when we were began talking earlier today about how expensive mid century modern decor has gotten. She saw the “Atlantic Barrier Islands” poster that I put in my ebay carousel. It’s on the ‘bay for $25. Gougers!

Okay, so now I have to walk you, step-by-step, where to order each of the posters, because they do not seems to be in one easy place on the government websites. And note, as you look at the listing — Some posters are 39″ x 29″, some are 24″ x 17″:

Here are the links to to all the posters still available today.

If you want to see larger images, I found some on this site – which stocks these at $50! – and where you can also see some of the old stock poster we missed out on boo hoo.

Finally –take a look at this humongous book about Charley Harper — written just recently by Todd Oldham, who is a huge fan of this famous mid century modern artist.

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73 comments

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  1. Cheryl says

    I want all of these but I have no wall space! I bought the Desert poster from the Harper website and the book from Amazon a few months ago. The book is amazing. I don’t remember paying as much for it as it appears to cost on Amazon right now, but there’s one coming out for $19.99 if you search Amazon. I didn’t know anything about Charley Harper until I saw his cardinal artwork on a Christmas card in a bookstore. Thanks for the tip, Pam!

    • pam kueber says

      No, Joe, there are only 3 — the Harpers Ferry place directs you to the site I listed, the U.S. Government Printing Office. Thanks for the tip, though!

        • Joe says

          Yes, you go to the link I show then do a word search *in* your browser for “Harper”. You’ll see a search total of 10. Two are the same poster in two sizes and the 10th Harper is Harper in Harpers Ferry (not a poster). So 9 posters.

          For a fantastic modern way to hang posters, check out Posterhänger by Jørgen Møller out of Arizona.

          http://www.posterhanger.com/

          While very cool, I would not recommend hanging valuable posters using the Posterhänger device as it does not protect the paper at all. But temporarily like a gallery (where I use it), office, up very high, in a dorm room/first apartment, or for an inkjet print or in a very clean home with no kids, its pretty cool. Way better than poster putty, tape, or pins (never!) or other botch approaches.

          Sizes range from 12 inch at $15 up to 72 inch at $80 for the device. The 32 inch at $20 would be fine for the 29 inch poster. The 18 inch at $16 for the 17 inch wide.

    • Linda says

      My husband got me 3 Harper posters for Christmas last year from the same website and I love them! I agree with Joe, there are more than three available if you do a search for “Harper” in the search bar (upper right-hand corner). I see The Rocky Mountains (2 sizes), Alpine Northwest, Atlantic Barrier Islands, Canyon Country, Sierra Range.

      • Linda says

        [ PS ] If anyone here has a resource for reasonably-priced large poster frames, I’d really appreciate it! I have the smaller Rocky Mountains poster (17″x24″) and it fits the $19.99 RIBBA frame nicely with some room to spare. The large posters are 29″x39″ and my local IKEA’s largest frame only goes up to 28 ¼ ” x 40 ¼ “.

        • KLS says

          If you want a real frame with glass, you’re SOL as far as doing that inexpensively if the poster isn’t standard size. I used Plakit, a better fit for my budget and also needs (will be hanging posters in basement with little kids playing and don’t want broken glass everywhere).

  6. flaca says

    i picked up the canyon & sierra range pieces. thanks for sharing – we’re fixing up our own 1960 ranch in Southern CA but don’t have a lot of funds for artwork! I love CH and am so excited about these! Since I’m a political organizer (ahem) I also had to pick up a set of the Homeland Security posters as well. Sweet find! Thanks!

  8. Sierra says

    PIcked up all three! I loooooove Charley Harper and can’t wait to get these up in my house! Thanks for the post!

  9. Heidi Swank says

    I picked up the Atlantic Barrier Islands and Canyon Country. Beautiful. I love Charley Harper. We used his holiday cards last year. Nice nice nice.

    Thanks Pam!

  10. Tina says

    Thanks for the tip! While I didn’t buy the Charley Harper posters, I indulged my silliness and purchased a set of Homeland Security Threat Level Signs/Posters. I just couldn’t help myself. 🙂