History

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
Writing on the Whale and Other Novelties

Joe Thompson emailed me these fascinating photos of lettering on unusual objects, namely a dead whale (1919) and a shipwrecked oil tanker (1926). They are from San Francisco, recently donated to the Western Neighbourhoods Project. Read more about the photos and the project on SF Weekly News. As a bonus, an exploding whale video below. […]

4 Feb 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
Ancient Indonesian Cave Paintings

Here is the latest discovery relating to the ancient history of paint on walls around the world. This time the image above and others depicting human features and animals have been found in Indonesia and dated to 35,000 to 39,000 years old. This is comparable to the oldest in Europe which are in Spain. Read […]

10 Dec 2014
Ghostsigns in the Family: Henry Dunn of Deal

This mid-1800s photograph shows a painted sign on the wall in Deal, Kent, advertising Henry Dunn and his various trades of cabinet maker, upholsterer, paper hanger, undertaker, broker and more. Born in 1818, Henry Dunn is my Great Great Great Grandfather, so I was chuffed to discover that he shared my appreciation of the hand-painted […]

15 Jan 2014
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
Ghost of the British Legion in Ypres, Belgium

This intriguing English-language ghostsigns is found in Ypres, Belgium, and has been identified for protection given its historical significance. I was alerted to it by regular correspondent, Daniel Lohmann, who has also done a bit of digging into this unusual ghostsign specimen. Firstly is the ghostsign itself and an explanation for it’s language, location and […]

18 Aug 2013
The Greatest Wonder of the World

While on my recent travels I was lucky enough to stumble upon The Greatest Wonder of the World exhibition at the State Library of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. The banner outside in big gold letters of various scripts obviously attracted my attention, and what a treat it was (and still is until 12th […]

5 May 2013
Two brilliant ghostsigns from Bath

I was recently interviewed by Kirsten Elliott of Akeman Press for an article in a forthcoming magazine launch scheduled for later this year. We’ve since been in email contact as a result of our shared interest in ghostsigns and those from Bath in particular. (Regular readers will remember my little photo essay of a visit […]

5 Aug 2012
The origins of painting on walls

I’ve become increasingly intrigued by the origins of painting on walls, and the evolution of the form over time, up to the current vogue for street art. While the walls of caves were not made of brick, they did nonetheless provide people with an early canvass for their painting. The transition from these depictions of […]

11 Jul 2012
Astronomical charts and calculations on 9th Century Mayan wall paintings

This article discusses the recent discovery of these wall paintings in Guatemala dating from AD814. More images in this guided tour of the site. See also this past post on the walls of Pompeii.

24 Jun 2012
April and the fascinating world of fresco

A headline that started “Where there’s a wall” led me to this page (fittingly for today’s date the image is called ‘April’) and subsequently to the wikipedia entry for fresco. This is clearly an area that I will have to do more research into, especially given the global nature of the art form and the […]

1 Apr 2012
The history of the Johnston typeface: Sign Design Society event

HAT archive contributor Mike Ashworth is giving an illustrated talk about the London Underground Johnston typeface next week on Tuesday, 3rd April. More details in the pdf below and on the Sign Design Society website. Followers of this site are eligible for a small discount, just make sure you quote ‘ghostsigns’ when you email enquiries@signdesignsociety.co.uk […]

28 Mar 2012
Spokane Students Hunt for Ghost Signs in ‘An Experiment in Public History Pedagogy’

The Public History students of Spokane have been set this brief which will get them out into the town to photograph the various ghost signs there. They’ll also have to use various historical sources to uncover the stories of the companies advertised by the signs and the people who painted them. It looks set to […]

13 Mar 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
Ancient Ghostsigns

Are these the oldest ghost signs in the world? Will at Naked came back from a trip to Italy where he visited the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum which were covered in volcanic ash for around 1,700 years following the eruption of mount Vesuvius in 79AD. While he was there he took these three fascinating […]

21 Jan 2010