Sign Collections

Ghostsigns of Mildura, on the Edge of the Outback

Stuart Walsh got in touch from Mildura, on the edge of the Australian Outback, following the ghostsigns feature in the Guardian. What he sent me really caught my eye and he has kindly let me share some of his photos here on the blog. Here’s a little of what he told me about the city, […]

26 Nov 2014

Ghostsigns in Coventry

Last week I was invited to give a talk about ghostsigns to students at the Design & Visual Arts department of the Coventry School of Art & Design. While I was in the area I thought I’d look up any ghostsigns that I could find in the History of Advertising Trust archive, and the flickr […]

12 Nov 2014

Ghostsigns in Amsterdam & Some Repainted

Last month I visited Amsterdam as part of my work on Better Letters. (Read more about it here, including lots more photos of lettering and signage.) While there I saw a number of ghostsigns, including many that have been repainted as part of the work that features in the book Tekens Aan De Wand. Below […]

29 Oct 2014

Fading Ads of Philadelphia by Lawrence O’Toole

This ghostsign advertising Roxy’s Hunting Goods did for Lawrence O’Toole what the Stoke Newington Fount Pens sign did for me. It sensitised him to the presence of ghostsigns in the urban environment, and started a programme of activity that would lead to the publication of his book, Fading Ads of Philadelphia. He still regards it […]

15 Oct 2014

Puck Matches: Archival Photo of a Gable End

This fascinating archival image is part of a larger collection of outdoor advertising captured photographically in the early 1930s and donated to the History of Advertising Trust (HAT) by Alan Bristow. This particular gable end in Pendleton features a painted sign advertising Puck Matches, which was once a Bryant & May brand. Both Puck and […]

9 Oct 2014

Ghostsigns of Rochester

Last weekend I attended ‘What the Dickens’, a Letterheads event in Rochester, Kent. You can read more about it, alongside 50 or so photos here. I spent most of the weekend indoors, either in the Corn Exchange at the event, or in pubs in the evening. However, on my walk from the station I did […]

10 Sep 2014

London Shop Fronts on London Live

Following last week’s post about Shopfrontelegy, here’s a short film from the Secret London section of new TV station London Live. It’s based on the work of Emily Webber who writes the London Shop Fronts blog.

6 Aug 2014

The Fantastic World of Shopfrontelegy

I’ve recently subscribed to Shopfrontelegy, a post-per-day blog from Vici MacDonald, the photographer and publisher behind Formerly. Given my recent interest in ‘fading fascias‘ the blog has been compulsive reading/viewing, with a collection of shopfront photography going back many years. It should probably come with a health warning about the hours you’re likely to lose […]

30 Jul 2014

Ghostsigns Restorations in Cambridge

This is the third and final post in a series documenting recent ghostsign restorations across the UK. It follows coverage of the Palladium Cinema restoration in Morecambe, and the repainting of the Larkspur Soft Drinks sign in Bradford. The focus this time is Cambridge and a slightly different approach to those previously covered. The Bulls […]

23 Jul 2014

Ghost Signs and Public Lettering in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter

On 21 May, before my Type Talk at Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, I helped lead a walk through the city’s historic Jewellery Quarter. This was in collaboration with Geraldine Marshall of the Birmingham Graphic DNA Project, and focused on the ghostsigns and public lettering that can be found in the quarter. It was […]

4 Jun 2014

F.C. Osborn and the Fading Fascias

This beautiful shop fascia was recently revealed on Dalston Lane, Hackney, London, as part of renovations to the shop by a new tenant. (Thanks Bryce for tipping me off!). The following photos show some of the detail of this sign for F.C.Osborn, Bookseller, who occupied the premises from the mid-1920s to at least 1950. Prior […]

2 May 2014

Five Amazing Egyptian Ghost Signs from Iman Abdulfattah

If you don’t already follow Frank Jump’s Fading Ad blog then I’d highly recommend you do so. Frank is a long-time friend and author of the book about New York’s widespread collection of fading ads. His ‘Uptown Correspondent‘ is Iman Abdulfattah and recently he has been posting her material from Cairo, Egypt, where she spends […]

9 Apr 2014

Fading Ads of St. Louis by Wm. Stage

This stunning photograph is from the cover of Wm. Stage‘s latest addition to the ghostsigns literature, ‘Fading Ads of St. Louis‘. Stage’s first book, ‘Ghost Signs‘, remains the definitive text on the topic and so it is no surprise to find his latest work full of fantastic photography and meticulous research. In this case Stage […]

3 Apr 2014

Ghostsigns of Minnesota and the Mid-West

Earlier this month I went on my first ever trip to the USA. This was to attend ‘Mazeppa Mardi Gras’, a meeting of the Letterheads in sub-zero Minnesota. It was a fantastic week of sign making and painting and you can read a full blown account of the week over on the Better Letters site. […]

19 Mar 2014

Danish Ghostsigns in Copenhagen

Ghostsigns are a truly global phenomenon and the latest installment on my virtual travels comes courtesy of Hanne Andersen from Copenhagen, Denmark. She says that it’s her ‘hobby to find them’ and the evidence here is that the Danish were no slouches when it came to producing large-scale painted wall advertisements. As in the UK, […]

5 Feb 2014

Tekens Aan De Wand: Ghostsign Restoration in the Netherlands

Tekens Aan De Wand (Writing on the Wall) is a book documenting the collective efforts of local historical societies across the Netherlands to restore ghostsigns. It is published by Trichis and features over 170 pages of beautiful painted signage, graphic design and archival photography. Sadly this review is limited by my lack of Dutch language […]

8 Jan 2014

Global Ghostsigns for the 2014 Calendar

The 2014 Ghostsigns Calendar has had some amazing material submitted, all of which is now available to view and like (i.e. vote for) on the Ghostsigns Facebook Page. There are 103 photos in all, from 11 different countries, proof that ghostsigns are a global phenomenon. Browsing through them I am struggling to decide on my […]

10 Nov 2013

Melbourne’s Ghostsigns and their Hunters

Back in March I was in Melbourne where I checked out some of the ghostsigns the city has to offer in addition to giving a talk alongside Stephen Banham at the University. Some of this was thanks to a chauffeur-driven tour by Stefan Schutt (Finding the Radio Book and Lewis & Skinner) and some of […]

13 Oct 2013

Bardas de Baile: Mexican Wall Painting

Bardas de Baile is a fascinating documentation of the ubiquitous painted walls found in Mexico. At first glance the images appear to be graffiti but closer inspection reveals that they are actually advertisements produced to promote local music events. The origin of these colourful pronouncements lies in the 1960s and this book documents their contemporary […]

6 Oct 2013

Lewis & Skinner Exhibit Featuring Ghostsigns and Live Signwriting

The Lewis & Skinner archive is a collection of materials relating to the work of a Melbourne signwriting company from the first half of the last century. These were fortuitously discovered by Dr Stefan Schutt last year and he has since been working to archive them. The result is this fabulous online display which includes […]

29 Sep 2013

The Mick McTiernan ‘Wall Paintings’ Collection

Mick McTiernan has sent me his collection of archival ghostsigns photography, and what a collection it is. (More in his Ghost Signs set.) Proving that fading advertising painted on walls has held people in fascination for many years, Mick dates some of his images to the mid 1980s. Lots of them I recognise from submissions […]

15 Sep 2013

‘Sur Les Murs’: Montréal’s Bilingual Ghostsigns

‘Sur les murs‘ (‘on the walls’) is the first book about ghostsigns to come out of Canada. It is a French language publication, as it is set in Montréal, but contains many English language signs. This reflects the bilingual history of the city and the country, which continues to this day. In fact, through the […]

8 Sep 2013

Liminal Space: past/presence by Mari Boman

Mari Boman, a photographer, took ghostsigns as the subject matter for her project titled ‘Liminal Space: past/presence’. The result is this series of nine beautiful images of some of London’s most well known ghostsigns. Not only that but the titles offer cryptic clues as to the stories these signs tell us about London’s history and […]

25 Aug 2013

Fading Ads of Birmingham by Charles Buchanan and Jonathan Purvis

Birmingham, Alabama, is the location for this addition to the ghostsigns literature from resident advertising expert and artist Charles Buchanan. For a city founded as recently as 1871 there is a rich history found on its walls, one that Buchanan has diligently researched and which Jonathan Purvis has captured photographically. Following a general overview of […]

11 Aug 2013