Time Travellers Invitation titled: ‘A Reception for Time Travellers Hosted by Professor Stephen Hawking’. hand-pulled letterpress print (white on black background), printed at New North Press, London on a Victorian ‘Albion’ press in October 2013. Framed.

A certificate of authenticity in a plastic sleeve is attached to its back.

Hawking frequently grappled with the concept of time travel, arguing that it should be impossible. In 2009, for a TV documentary, he held a party for time travellers from the future – but only issued invitations afterwards. Hawking sat alone at his party, gleeful that no guests had arrived from the future to prove him wrong.

This particular print was created in 2013 by artist and designer Peter Dean, and sold on on a limited print run of 100. The posters for sale were advertised as follows: "This stunning Victoriana letterpress poster is part of a real time-travel experiment devised by the world-renowned physicist [...] The success of this experiment depends entirely on the invitation poster being seen by time travellers. Therefore, in purchasing this print, you could help to prove that time travel to the past is possible."