Year: 2018
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Scorched Earth Reveals Historic Eire Signs
A fire at Bray Head, County Wicklow, in Ireland, has revealed this fascinating relic of the second world war. This large-format Eire sign was one of over 80 located around the coast of Ireland to indicate the country’s neutrality in the war to bombers flying overhead. Many others survive, including some which have been maintained/restored, […]
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It’s All Popping Off in Deptford Market Yard
In Deptford, South East London, the processes of development/gentrification are having an impact on the area’s walls, including ghost signs. The following is cribbed from two Twitter threads, here and here, largely focused on the Deptford Market Yard. First up is this shelter sign from WW2. On 16 July the Deptford Society tweeted in a […]
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Recycling & Rearranging Ghost Signs
The above fragment of a ghost sign was revealed by the demolition of the adjascent building in Melbourne in 2014, as documented by Al Briggs at RMIT… “The majority of existing ghost signs that remain in suburban Melbourne are signs that were originally painted on the side walls of our Milk Bars – local shops […]
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Shropshire Shop Fronts of the 1880s
My father-in-law discovered this astonishing collection of high quality photography showing the high street in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, in 1888. They were photographed by Joseph Lewis della-Porta who came from a retailing family and had the foresight to document these images which convey so much of life 130 years ago. They are part of a collection […]
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Ghost Signs of Montreal & Ottawa from John Toohey
Ghost signs in Montreal, Canada, are an interesting category, due to the bilingual nature of the city and wider region of Quebec. This idiosyncracy has been covered in ‘Sur les murs‘ by Réjane Bougé. (Lovely photographs, contemporary and archival, but sadly the text is only in French!). John Toohey has been documenting some of the […]
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Now Open: The Grand Exhibition of the Pre-Vinylite Society
The Grand Exhibition of the Pre-Vinylite Society is now showing for four days at the Bargehouse, behind the OXO Tower on London’s South Bank. Visitors can take in the c.30 pieces from an international cast of contemporary sign and lettering artists, each inspired by entries in the catalogue of the 1762 Grand Exhibition of the […]