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Contains original artwork and copies of Posy Simmond's drawings for the Guardian, 1977-2004, including 'The Silent Three' comic strip which ran from 1977 to 1987. Also includes a number of drawings which appeared in the Observer and Harper's New York.

Administrative/Biographical history: Rosemary Elizabeth (Posy) Simmonds was born in Berkshire in 1945. She was educated at Queen Anne's School, Caversham and went on to study art at L'Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris and Central School of Art and Design, London. From 1969 she worked for The Sun on a daily cartoon entitled 'Bear'. She first began work for the Guardian in 1972, initially producing illustrations for a range of articles. In 1977 she began her weekly comic strip 'The Silent Three' for the Guardian's Women's page which ran for 10 years. From 1987 Posy Simmonds concentrated on writing and illustrating children's books although she still contributed some illustrations to the paper, and returned in 1992 with a weekly comic strip featuring J D Crouch which ran for a year. In the late 1990s she drew the 'Gemma Bovery' series for the paper which was published as a graphic novel in 1999. From November 2002 to December 2004 she worked on the 'Literary Life' series which appeared in the Saturday Review section of the Guardian, and from September 2005 - December 2006 on 'Tamara Drewe'. In 2002 she was awarded an MBE for services to the newspaper industry.

Posy Simmonds contributed a weekly satirical comic strip for the Guardian's Monday Women's pages from 1977 to 1987. Initially titled 'The Silent Three of St. Botolph's' as a tribute to the 1950s strip by Evelyn Flinders, the name was shortened to 'The Silent Three' in June 1978 and from October 1979 went untitled and was popularly known simply as 'Posy'. The strip focused on the lives of three middle-aged, middle class women who had been friends since school days: Wendy Weber, a former nurse married to George, a sociology lecturer, with a large brood of children; Jo Heep, married to whisky salesman Edmund with two difficult teenagers; and Trish Wright, married to philandering advertising director Stanhope with a young baby.

Original artwork arranged chronologically. The date given is the date on which the cartoon was published in The Guardian where this is known.