Sign Collections
Ghost sign archives and collections.
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1001 London Ghost Signs, Mapped
The online map that accompanies the book, Ghost Signs: A London Story, now has over 1,000 pinned signs.
25 Sep 2024
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Milwaukee’s Ghost Signs Revealed in a New ‘Augmented History’ Tour
Augmented reality is used to facilitate a tour of Milwaukee’s HIstoric Third Ward ghost signs, presenting them as they once looked.
1 May 2024
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Recovered Letters and Signs on the Streets of Valencia
Exploring Valencia’s historic signs with Juan Nava and his Letras Recuperadas (recovered letters) project.
27 Jun 2022
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London’s Ghost Signs in the 80s and 90s, by Peter Marshall
Peter Marshall’s collection of London’s ghost signs from the 1980s and 90s are part of a wider set of historically significant images.
10 May 2022
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Oslo Ghost Signs with Martin Holm
A look at the collection of surviving and lost Oslo ghost signs with Martin Holm, who has been photographing them since 2011 and runs the Oslo Type website.
20 Jan 2022
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New York State Ghost Signs from Margherita Fabrizio
New York State Ghost Signs from Margherita Fabrizio, featuring photography of fading painted signs, composite images and the story of their photographer.
4 Jan 2022
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Advertising Time Capsules in Paris and London
In the London Underground and Paris Metro these advertising time capsules show original posters dating from the 1950s and earlier, as revealed by works.
29 Dec 2021
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London’s Best Ghost Sign? You Decide!
Twitter competition to decide London’s best ghost sign, in support of the publication of ‘Ghost Signs: A London Story’
28 May 2021
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Glasgow’s Ghost Signs Through the Lens of Stuart Neville
Stuart Neville has been documenting Glasgow’s ghost signs since 2007. His collection serves as a record of these changes.
15 Mar 2021
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22 Hovis Ghost Signs Across the Capital
Documentation of Hovis ghost signs across London, including archival photos and contextual research.
21 Dec 2020
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Glasgow Ghost Signs Walking Tours: Free Maps
Three walks the reveal some of Glasgow’s wonderful ghost signs.
23 Nov 2020
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N.E. Signs Appreciation Society Wins Appreciation from Hackney Council
Update on work to document and protect Hackney’s surviving street signs with the now-defunct N.E. postal district, including successful Hackney Society lobbying.
19 Oct 2020
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Ghosts of London’s Wayfinding Past in this New Book
Highlights from Alistair Hall’s London Street Signs book.
15 Oct 2020
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Ghost Signs for Sale Raise Ethical Questions
Review of signs from architectural salvage that end up for sale on interior decoration marketplaces, and associated issues, including ‘faux’ ghost signs.
5 Oct 2020
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Singapore’s Historic Signs
I’ve never been to Singapore but have always believed it to be an ultra-modern city-state, and an unlikely place to find much in the way of historic signs. However, it turns out that this prejudice is unfounded, as this collection of photos from Mark De Winne, Vikas Kailankaje and Vishesh Wanvari shows. They were featured […]
16 Nov 2018
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London Street Level by Robert Brownjohn
I recently (28 October) hosted ‘Font Sunday’ on Twitter with the theme of ‘fading fonts’ to mark the changing of the clocks and the fading light it signifies. Among the contributions made was a tweet from Eliza Brownjohn, daughter of the designer Robert Brownjohn (1925-1970) who took the photo above in 1961. It is one […]
9 Nov 2018
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Shropshire Shop Fronts of the 1880s
My father-in-law discovered this astonishing collection of high quality photography showing the high street in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, in 1888. They were photographed by Joseph Lewis della-Porta who came from a retailing family and had the foresight to document these images which convey so much of life 130 years ago. They are part of a collection […]
31 Aug 2018
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Ghost Signs of Montreal & Ottawa from John Toohey
Ghost signs in Montreal, Canada, are an interesting category, due to the bilingual nature of the city and wider region of Quebec. This idiosyncracy has been covered in ‘Sur les murs‘ by Réjane Bougé. (Lovely photographs, contemporary and archival, but sadly the text is only in French!). John Toohey has been documenting some of the […]
24 Aug 2018
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Now Open: The Grand Exhibition of the Pre-Vinylite Society
The Grand Exhibition of the Pre-Vinylite Society is now showing for four days at the Bargehouse, behind the OXO Tower on London’s South Bank. Visitors can take in the c.30 pieces from an international cast of contemporary sign and lettering artists, each inspired by entries in the catalogue of the 1762 Grand Exhibition of the […]
16 Aug 2018
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Social Decay from Andrei Lacatusu
Digital artist Andrei Lacatusu has created Social Decay, a series of images depicting a possible future of washed-up digital companies and their derelict signs. They are ‘faux’, although in a different sense to those that I’ve documented in the past. An article on Digital Arts contrasts them “to the slick, shiny digital versions we see […]
10 Aug 2018
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Brilliant at Las Vegas’ Neon Museum
[This is a reposting of the original blog post on Better Letters.] Since 1996 Las Vegas’ Neon Museum has put the city’s decommissioned signage on display in its ‘bone yard’ exhibit. It was already a ‘must visit’ lettering location but has now been boosted by an innovative treatment of the historic pieces found there. Craig […]
3 Aug 2018
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The Grand Exhibition of the Society of Sign Painters
The following article is re-posted from the original on Better Letters. This August we’ll be opening a very special sign painting exhibition within the public-facing part of Letterheads 2018: London Calling. It is being curated by Meredith Kasabian of Best Dressed Signs and the Pre-Vinylite Society and builds on her research into an 18th Century […]
22 Jun 2018
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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.
4 May 2018
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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 […]
27 Apr 2018
