20 Jul 2018

Bill-Poster: A London Type

Sadly we recently lost what was one of my all-time favourite ghost signs, in the shape of the Black Cat on Dingley Road. RIP. The brand was a pioneer of cigarette cards, and their power to foster increased sales through the parallel addictive properties of collecting, and nicotine.

Recently the Gentle Author of Spitalfields Life acquired a collection of these, featuring London ‘Types’, essentially everyday working folk from the city. I’ve chosen the Bill-Poster to share here, as he is most closely aligned with the advertising and signage themes of this blog, but there are many more here on the original Spitalfields Life post.

Here is the reverse of the card, with its description of the perils of bill posting nearly 100 years ago…

Here’s the original Dingley Road ghost sign, and then another that was revealed in Clacton-on-Sea.

• Advertising
• Bill-Poster
• Black Cat
• Carerras
• Cigarettes
• Gentle Author
• London
• London Types
• Spitalfields Life
• Street Flusher
• UK