Year: 2018
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A 1984 Photo of the Spitalfields Gillette Ghost Sign
I first posted about this illustrated Gillette ghost sign on Commercial Street back in 2007 when I came across it on Frank Jump’s Fading Ads blog. Frank told me that the best place to photograph it was from the top of the nearby carpark which led to my 2008 capture above. Recently the sign had […]
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Karl Blaschke: The Sign Man of Munich
[This book review is reposted from the original on the Better Letters blog.] “Signwriters are entitled to their immortality just as are other artists and craftsmen” – Kevin Corrigan Kearns, Dublin’s Vanishing Craftsmen Signwriting is perhaps the least documented of the lettering disciplines; it’s nature is ephemeral versus the relative permanence of calligraphy on important […]
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King Size Viceroy Reversal in Rockford IL
This ghost sign in Rockford, Illinois advertises Viceroy cigarettes, and that they are ‘Now King Size’. It was shared on Twitter by BarbarianDiva and is a lovely example of a ‘reverse’ ghost sign. This effect is achieved by the demolition of the host building, leaving the paintwork on the adjacent property that was built after […]
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The Shopfronts of ‘Paris Re-Tale’
After publishing the wonderful photos of one-time Paris sign business E. Gautier, I was alerted to this project and the above video where the sign makes a brief cameo. Five of my favourites below, but make sure you check out the full collection, including background notes, by photographer Sebastian Erras for Pixartprinting.
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Roy Reed’s Reconstructions
Roy Reed is a prolific collector and researcher of ghost signs, and uses his skills as a designer to decipher them. I’ve featured his work previously, on the almost illegible William Walker & Sons sign in Bermondsey. Roy is also a co-collaborator on the forthcoming Clapham Ghostsigns Walk. He has kindly shared some more of […]
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Michelle Heron’s Fantastic Fascias
Michelle Heron is a London-based painter with a paticular fascination for old shops and shop fronts. Her paintings depict iconic fascias, many of which have been lost since she turned her attention to them, and some that survive in a state of perpetual uncertainty. As with my own work on ghostsigns, Michelle is focused on […]