Signs in Media

Books, articles and video relating to ghost signs.

Cookie Cutter Shops on Walthamstow High Street

Simon Memel sent me a link to this article on Dezeen by Owen Hatherley about an odd thing that has just happened on Walthamstow High Street. The council has funded the standardisation of shop front signage, leading to the loss of shops’ individual character. I added the following comment to the discussion that has developed […]

9 Nov 2017
Five of the Best: Books about Ghost Signs

Over the years I’ve tried to seek out and review books about ghost signs here on the blog. Here is a set of recommendations drawn from these, focused on those in English. In a future blog post I’ll feature work published in other languages. 1 Ghost Signs: Brick Wall Signs in America by Wm. Stage […]

19 Oct 2017
RIP: London Co-Op, Frederic Street

This ghost sign for the London Co-Operative Society on Frederic Street, London E17, has now been partially covered by new signage for the Still Bar and Restaurant. In addition, the last visible portion of the sign, a small strip on the right, has been painted out in white. While most of the sign is likely […]

10 Oct 2017
‘London Sign by Sign’ by Marco Bazelmans

Back in May, Marco Bazelmans contacted me about a project he was working on as part of his communication design studies in Aachen, Germany. The brief was to create a guide of some sort, and he had selected signwriting as his theme. In particular, he had honed in on the idea of portraying signwriting, both […]

4 Oct 2017
When Better Letters Met Cliff Headford

This is a reposting of the article that originally appeared here on the Better Letters blog. On 4th July 2016 I received the following email in response to a book I was working on at the time: I care for an elderly gentleman in Bristol, now nearly 96, who was a sign painter after the […]

1 Jul 2017
Fading Ads of Gloucester by Chris West

Fading Ads of Gloucester extends the current series from the History Press in the UK, USA, and Ireland. The material has been researched and gathered by Chris West, graphic designer for the publisher. The format of the titles in the series varies but this one opts for some very brief introductory comments, before moving into […]

29 Apr 2017
Dingo Flour Restoration in Fremantle Australia

On one of my recent Bankside Ghostsigns Walks an Australian guest tipped me off about the recent restoration of a famous Dingo Flour ghost sign in Fremantle, Australia. This was undertaken at the end of 2016 with a grant from the Western Australian Heritage Council. The sign was originally painted in 1940, and was maintained […]

22 Apr 2017
What is a Ghost Sign?

‘What is a Ghost Sign?‘ is the title of the second chapter of our book, Advertising and Public Memory. It is an attempt to provide a logical approach to formulating a definition, and a formal response to the many times I’ve been asked, ‘Does this count?’. The article started life a few years ago as […]

11 Feb 2017
Painted Advertisements in Islington: Part 1

I am conducting a small investigation into the ghostsigns of Islington and am appealing for help from readers of this blog. The map below (view full screen) will form the basis for this, in the context of the following notes. Recently while going through old binders with some of my very early research into ghostsigns […]

4 Feb 2017
Tracing the Origins of ‘Ghost’ Signs

When did old painted signs on walls become known as ‘ghost’ signs, and who coined the phrase? These questions crop up often in my discussions with others, and on my tours, and I always have to hold my hand up and say I didn’t invent the term, but have just made use of it for […]

14 Jan 2017
Advertising & Public Memory: Social, Cultural and Historical Perspectives on Ghost Signs

Advertising & Public Memory is the first scholarly book focused on ghostsigns. It was a labour of love across much of 2015, work that included editing others’ work, as well as contributing to some of the writing inside, notably an attempt to answer the question ‘What is a Ghost Sign’ (Chapter 2). After submitting the […]

27 Dec 2016
Early Graphic Communications in Cave Paintings

Thanks to Derek for alerting me to this video which explores some of the earliest known forms of graphic communications and symbolism, building on previous posts here on the blog. Here is the TED blurb, and the speaker has a book, The First Signs: Unlocking the Mysteries of the World’s Oldest Symbols (also available on […]

6 Dec 2016
New Book: Ghost Signs of Bath

Ghost Signs of Bath has been a book waiting to happen for many years, and I have written about the city on a number of previous occasions. Fortunately Andrew Swift and Kirsten Elliott of Akeman Press have seized the opportunity and created a publication that takes local historical research into ghostsigns to new levels. I […]

28 Nov 2016
Ghostsigns with the Gentle Author on Spitalfields Life

I’ve recently had the pleasure of meeting the Gentle Author, creator and driver of the incredible daily posts on Spitalfields Life. We explored the routes of my North and South London Ghostsigns Tours, which have been documented on the blog (here and here). As with my public walks I enjoyed seeing the signs through another’s […]

17 Oct 2016
Fading Ads of Cincinnati

Fading Ads of Cincinnati by Ronny Salerno is the latest in the series of books from The History Press. Documenting the ghostsigns of his hometown, Ronny offers up some beautiful examples, complimented by detailed local history research that places them in context. Versus others in the series there is slightly less generic material on the […]

23 Jul 2016
Ghost Letters of Vienna

Ghost Letters of Vienna is a project to photographically document the wide range of fading fascias, and other forms of redundant lettering, on buildings in the Austrian capital. I met with the project leader, Tom Koch, during his recent visit to London, and have offered a Ghostsigns Walking Tour as one of the prizes in […]

18 May 2016
Ghost Signs of Dublin by Antonia Hart

Last year saw the publication of Ghost Signs of Dublin, to my knowledge the first book covering the subject in Ireland. It is the latest in the growing set of titles from The History Press, previously focused on the UK and USA. (See: Birmingham Alabama; Liverpool; New York; Phildelphia; St. Louis). Versus other titles in […]

16 Nov 2015
Restoration Period in the Monotype Recorder

Last year I was invited to contribute an article on ghostsigns to the reincarnation of the Monotype Recorder periodical. It focused on issues of protection and restoration which I have covered regularly on this blog and continue to maintain an active interest in. A couple of weeks ago I brought these issues to my first […]

23 Jan 2015
R.N. Cattle & Son in Harvey Gould’s Soho

This fascinating video about Soho features longtime resident Harvey Gould talking about the people and places that he remembers from the area. At 10:48 he discusses the painted wooden sign for R.N. Cattle & Son in Portland Mews. He then heads up the mews itself to reveal the ghost of cricket stumps once painted onto […]

21 Dec 2014
Ghostsigns in the Typographic Universe

A new book from Steven Heller and Gail Anderson features a handful of my ghostsigns photos from around the world (London, Cambodia, France and Australia). Typographic Universe documents a variety of ‘found’ letters in the environment, people and animals, alongside the creation of letters from everyday objects. These are split across ten themed sections with […]

5 Nov 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
Dr King: The Story of a Melbourne Ghostsign by Nick Gadd

This Melbourne ghostsign is a recent reveal and was captured by Nick Gadd, the writer behind Melbourne Circle. Nick’s research into the sign was recently published in an anthology of papers titled ‘Melbourne Subjective‘. He investigates the sign and creates a tentative hypothesis about who Dr King was with reference to a fictitious, but plausible, […]

17 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
Ghostsigns on Londonist Out Loud

I took N Quentin Woolf of Londonist Out Loud on a portion of my Ghostsigns Walking Tour in Stoke Newington. The result is this podcast (here on itunes, and here on Londonist) which we managed to record despite the myriad noises and distractions on the street. Thanks Quentin for putting it together.

14 Jun 2014