Sam Roberts

Danville City Council defines rules for restoration of ghostsigns

Interesting piece of legislation reported here [Link expired, mention on p.41 here) from Danville City, California, including that “building owners…cannot recreate signs that have been painted over with other signs”,  This must give preference to newer signs, assuming it is clear which came last… More on restoration and protection on the main blog.

3 Mar 2012

Signs and more in Dickens’ London

Picture: ‘Dickens’s Victorian London‘ by Alex Werner and Tony William Collection of 19th Century photography in London, some inadvertently capturing the advertising and signage of the age.  Original photo here, book available here.

2 Mar 2012

Cool barbers sign in Mumbai, 1970/80s

More in this BBC gallery, although not with the cool sign mirroring the ‘model’ in the background.  Original photo here.

1 Mar 2012

Now you see me, now you don’t: London’s elusive shop signs

Nice article here about the brief reveal, and more extended cover up, of some of London’s beautiful hand painted shop signs.  In some ways they are being preserved, but they could be equally be showcased.  They represent the skills of signwiters such as the contemporary Peter Hardwicke.  Jane also covered a closely related topic in her account […]

29 Feb 2012

More Vancouver Ghostsigns and related article

Following this post on the main blog I stumbled across this small collection of Vancouver ghostsigns and a link to this article [Link expired] where some of the local heritage and conservation issues are discussed.  The situation in that respect is very similar to that in the UK.  (A variety of blog post related to […]

28 Feb 2012

Vancouver demolition reveals intriguing ghostsign

Twitter and my Google Reader came alive this week following the demolition of a Vancouver building that left the best part of this 1920s sign clear for all to see. Located on corner of Granville Street and Robson Street, it is a colourful specimen in excellent condition, the building which has come down working to protect […]

26 Feb 2012

Article charting the history and early photography of advertising painted on walls

Daniel Lohmann posted an article he’s written to the ghostsigns Facebook group. It is in german and the original can be found here [Link expired] with links to full size copies of the diverse set of images referenced. The pdf of the original as it appeared in published form is also available here. I’ve run the […]

26 Feb 2012

Can new Brickads Generate Income for Denver’s LoDo District? Discuss.

This popped up on twitter, considering the leasing of wall space as a means of generating income, community exposure and maintaining artistic heritage in LoDo, Denver.  Lots of Collosal Media featured in addition to some lovely archive photography.  I wonder if, with every new brickad that gets painted, something of the impact and novelty of […]

25 Feb 2012

c.Eight storey painted signage from Oslo

This just turned up in the ghostsigns Flickr group and I had to share, fantastic scale from Oslo by holloway steve.

23 Feb 2012

Ghostsigns from Elkhorn, Montana…

…this one particularly caught my eye, more here. Photo: Off the Beaten Path.

20 Feb 2012

Mid-20th Century photos of King’s Cross featuring some painted ads

This set of photos shows what King’s Cross was like 60 years ago with the odd painted ad caught inadvertently by what appears to have been a bus enthusiast.  The one above features a shop sign for Freeman, Hardy & Willis, and there’s this one too.  The full set here.

19 Feb 2012

Frank Jump on 90.7 WFUD

Great radio interview with Frank talking about his work, his book and the topic in general.  (A brief mention of this blog shortly after 12 minutes – thanks Frank!)

19 Feb 2012

Sunderland Echo at the Beamish Museum (via @Beamish_Museum)

A nice photo of this sign, produced for the ‘living’ Beamish Museum, which reminds me that I must visit at some point when I’m back in the UK. Here it is in the archive: http://www.hatads.org.uk/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=9446

18 Feb 2012

Record Breaking Roofad

I’ve been sitting on this for such a long time that I almost completely forgot about it. In fact, Mark sent me details of it back in June 2009 so hands up for my complete slackness on that front! It is another example of a ‘roofad‘ but one with significant exposure, being situated on top of […]

11 Feb 2012

Players, real or poor fake?

This is something of an old mystery but my comments on Flickr never received any response so I thought I’d open the case file again.  Any thoughts on the authenticity or otherwise of the Players sign in this picture most welcome…

11 Feb 2012

Posters coming to life in 1906

A funny little film depicting an increasingly aggressive poster coming to life in Paris.  Made by George Melies, sent to me by Joe Thompson.

11 Feb 2012

How-to guide for large scale hand painted advertising

Nice 11-part photo essay from Business Insider documenting the production of a 10-storey hand painted sign in New York. Text here, photos here, sign produced by Sky Tag.

9 Feb 2012

Faygo: Detroit Ghostsign Revealed by Destruction

Nice photo of the sign in its former glory also available (click here).  Looks like it has been painted at least twice because of the different layout in each image.

7 Feb 2012

Miniature Planet: Ghostsigns for Model Makers

I love this, miniature ghostsigns for use on model railways and other small scale hobbies.  This will be a welcome time saver for those who don’t have the dedication of Emmanuel Nouaillier.  That said, the extent to which they’re modelled on actual signs is difficult to gauge… There is currently a collection of 25 available […]

7 Feb 2012

Barcelona Ghostsign, great photo from Sebastien

Posada Nueva del Progreso, Barcelona via Painted signs and mosaics by Sebastien Ardouin.

7 Feb 2012

No Relevance: Hand-Painted Signage, Gallery and History

More photos and this nice bit of history at: http://www.norelevance.com/current-exhibits/signs/ Albrecht Dürer, in the dedication of his 1535 treatise “Of the Just Shaping of Letters,” expressed such a sentiment with regards to the lost Greco-Roman art of lettering: “In what honor and dignity this art was anciently held amongst the Greeks and Romans, the old authors […]

4 Feb 2012

Hand Painted Bangladesh

As part of my work with VSO I recently attended a study tour to Bangladesh, a country with many similarities to Cambodia but also many differences.  The study was great but I have to admit that I was perpetually distracted by the sheer quantity and (often) quality of hand painted signage, decoration and other forms […]

2 Feb 2012

HAT Archive: January 2012 Additions

A number of new additions have been made to the History of Advertising Trust Ghostsigns Archive.  Some of these are new photos of signs already covered in the archive but many are completely new material for the collection.  Here are a handful of my favourite new additions, the rest can be found by searching for […]

31 Jan 2012

RIP: Bull Durham, Plainfield, New Jersey

Photo: Plaintalker II   More photos documenting the loss of this sign on the Plaintalker II blog.

31 Jan 2012