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 […]
Books
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 […]
Fading Ads of Gloucester by Chris West
5 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 […]
Tracing the Origins of ‘Ghost’ Signs
1 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 […]
New Book: Ghost Signs of Bath
3 One month ago I attended the launch of Ghostletters Vienna at the Wien Museum in Austria’s capital city. The book was conceived, written and produced by Tom Koch, alongside photographers Daniel Gerersdorfer and Stephan Doleschal. It got off the ground with two crowdsourcing efforts, one […]
Ghostsigns & Ghostletters of Vienna
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 […]
Fading Ads of Cincinnati
1 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; […]
Ghost Signs of Dublin by Antonia Hart
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 […]
Ghostsigns in the Typographic Universe
1 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 […]
Fading Ads of Philadelphia by Lawrence O’Toole
I am on the editorial panel for a book due for publication next year. Although it will be too late to find a place on the shelf at Bath’s Circulating Library (above), the topic for the book is ghost signs with the working title of […]
A Book About Ghost Signs
This stunning photograph is from the cover of Wm. Stage‘s latest addition to the ghostsigns literature, ‘Fading Ads of St. Louis‘. Stage’s first book, ‘Ghost Signs‘, remains the definitive text on the topic and so it is no surprise to find his latest work full […]
Fading Ads of St. Louis by Wm. Stage
8 Tekens Aan De Wand (Writing on the Wall) is a book documenting the collective efforts of local historical societies across the Netherlands to restore ghostsigns. It is published by Trichis and features over 170 pages of beautiful painted signage, graphic design and archival photography. Sadly […]
Tekens Aan De Wand: Ghostsign Restoration in the Netherlands
While preparing for Wednesday’s talk at St Bride I rediscovered this in an old photo album from my 1998 travels in Central America. It is from Nicaragua, celebrating 1 May, International Workers’ Day. I believe this may be my first ever ghostsign photo, predating the fountain […]
My first Ghostsign, from Nicaragua
1 ‘Sur les murs‘ (‘on the walls’) is the first book about ghostsigns to come out of Canada. It is a French language publication, as it is set in Montréal, but contains many English language signs. This reflects the bilingual history of the city and the […]
‘Sur Les Murs’: Montréal’s Bilingual Ghostsigns
3 Birmingham, Alabama, is the location for this addition to the ghostsigns literature from resident advertising expert and artist Charles Buchanan. For a city founded as recently as 1871 there is a rich history found on its walls, one that Buchanan has diligently researched and which […]
Fading Ads of Birmingham by Charles Buchanan and Jonathan Purvis
13 The Sign Painter Movie is now on tour with dates booked in until November, including Scotland and New Zealand for those outside the film’s USA base. I was treated to a preview screening and also got my hands on the book that accompanies the film. […]
Sign Painters: The movie, the book and the resurgence
11 Today sees the publication of the UK’s first ghostsigns book. Liverpool Ghost Signs by Caroline and Phil Bunford is “a sideways look at the city’s advertising history” and features over 150 images of fading, crumbling and disused signage. Caroline and Phil were almost single-handedly responsible […]
Liverpool Ghost Signs by Caroline and Phil Bunford
The Sign Painter’s Dream from WVPT on Vimeo. The above episode of Reading Rainbow featured a reading of Roget Roth’s children’s book, The Sign Painter’s Dream. That ends at about ten minutes in and then it cuts to some interesting material about Times Square’s ‘spectaculars’, […]
The Sign Painter’s Dream
Ladies & Gentlemen, I present to you what many are tipping for this year’s surprise Christmas best seller, my first book, Hand-Painted Signs of Kratie. It is now available to buy in printed and eBook formats (suitable for iPad, Kindle, Nook and most other eReading devices […]
Now published: Hand-Painted Signs of Kratie
I’ve just learned of a new book that has been published all about Montreal’s ghostsigns in Canada. It looks to be a fascinating addition to the literature, especially as it juxtaposes faded signs with archive photos of them when the paint was a lot fresher. […]
Montreal ghostsigns book
1 Gabriel Heatwave sent me a treat of a link to this article about a new book and exhibition celebrating the hand-painted signs used to advertise dancehall events in Jamaica. A copy of the book is on order and will be reviewed at a later date. […]
Jamaican Dancehall Signs by Maxine Walters
Hamburg Alphabet by Chris Campe is a delightful expose of one German city’s signage and public lettering. Featuring 220 images it catalogues these examples in alphabetical order according to the word spelled on the sign. The pages are visually striking, offering both similarities and sharp […]
Hamburg Alphabet by Chris Campe
1 Work on my book means that I haven’t been blogging as diligently as usual so this is getting back to it. Through William Stage (author of ‘Ghost Signs‘) I became acquainted with American watercolour artist Dana Forrester. Dana is an artist who uses ghostsigns in […]
Dana Forrester, ghostsigns and classic cars
Here is a preview of the hand painted cover for the ‘Hand Painted Signs of Kratie’ book. You can also see some photos and video of the work in progress on this. Sadly when I went back to see some more painting in action I […]