Signwriter

H. Newman & Sons (Have Removed), Melbourne

A surviving palimpsest in the centre of Melbourne reveals the legacy of the jeweller and watchmaker Henry Newman. Photo: Sean Reynolds.

23 Jun 2024

The Donovan Bros Sign at 46 Crispin Street

The Donovan Bros sign at 46 Crispin Street has a fascinating story to tell, and here’s more about proprietor Patrick Donovan and signwriter Alfred Keil.

22 Feb 2022

Money Lent and The Mystery of Perry’s Son in Tooting

Perry & Son’s pawnbrokers sign in Tooting was painted by Frederick Benjamin Hall around the turn of the 19th and 20th Centuries, but who was Perry’s mysterious son?

11 Jan 2021

E. Gautier’s Beautiful Paris Ghost Signs

Independently of each other I have been sent photos of this beautiful Paris ghost signs by Wim Dammers and book contributor Leisa Clements. It is a remarkably elaborate piece of work, including picturials in other sections. This is isn’t surprising as it is advertising the services of E. Gautier’s sign firm. He no doubt wanted […]

6 Apr 2018

‘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