Illustration

Via Amanda Jacks on Twitter I was alerted to the reveal of this ghost sign near Columbia Road Market. It’s at the junction of Ravenscroft Street and Wellington Row. The text at the bottom is clearly ‘For Hire’ with the firm’s name being either O. […]

For Hire: Stunning Reveal near Columbia Road Market

This entry was posted in Signs of Note and tagged For Hire Illustration Jobmaster Leakin London Pictorial Princess Dry Cleaning Princess Launderette Ravenscroft Street Reveal Tower Hamlets Transport Transportation UK Valet Service Van Vehible Wellington Row on December 15, 2017 by Sam Roberts

This fragment was one of my early discoveries when I first started noticing ghost signs in 2006. It was located on a very prominent wall on Stoke Newington Church Street, adjacent to William Patten School. At some stage after it was originally painted the patch […]

Wine & Willing: A Stoke Newington Mystery

This entry was posted in Sign Stories and tagged Bread Collective Fragment Grapes Illustration James Willing London N16 Stoke Newington Stoke Newington Church Street Stoke Newington Heritage Mural UK Vine Leaves Willing Advertising Wine Wine Glass on November 12, 2017 by Sam Roberts

List of cities with branches of Dan Wuille & Co — I’ve been traveling a lot with work lately and was recently in Glasgow for a workshop. With a couple of hours to spare I looked up a few locations on the History of Advertising Trust Ghostsigns Archive and took to the streets. Here’s what I […]

Glasgow Ghostsigns Galore

This entry was posted in Photo Essays and tagged A.Allan Broom & Green Caledonia Books Candleriggs Dan Wuille Ecko Ecko Radio F.W. Holroyd Gilding Glasgow Goods Entrance I.J. Mellis Illustration Jacobean Corsetry Nova Patrick Thomas Court Police Box Red Hackle Scotland on February 18, 2015 by Sam Roberts

Brixton Windmill by London Mural Preservation Society — Check out this photo essay from the London Mural Preservation Society documenting their project to repaint Brixton’s Windmill mural. It is a fantastic achievement and a vibrant and colourful result at the end of this undertaking which involved many people from the community and beyond. […]

The restoration of the Brixton Windmill mural

This entry was posted in Photo Essays Related Work and tagged Brixton Illustration London London Mural Preservation Society Murals Restoration Windmill on July 9, 2012 by Sam Roberts

Joseph's Hat Shop Austin Texas — This great hand painted sign for Joseph’s Hat Shop in Austin Texas is set for demolition ahead of the construction of a new Marriott hotel. Another photo showing the entire sign can be found here on the Glyn Lowe Photoworks website.

Joseph’s Hat Shop sign threatened in Austin, Texas

This entry was posted in Individual Signs and tagged Austin Clothing Glyn Lowe Photoworks Hats Illustration Joseph's Hat Shop RIP Texas USA on June 27, 2012 by Sam Roberts

Ukranian Ghostsign Pasazh Andreolli — Areta Kovalska just added a link to this post about ghostsigns from Lviv in Ukraine to the Ghostsigns Facebook page. It not only has some fascinating images but also some insightful observations on the meaning of these pieces of painted advertising from the former Soviet […]

Ukrainian Ghostsigns: Shadows of a Forgotten Past

This entry was posted in Sign Collections Sign Destinations Sign Folk Sign Initiatives and tagged Areta Kovalska Europe Illustration Lviv Partial Reveal Shadows of a Forgotten World Soviet Union Ukraine on June 14, 2012 by Sam Roberts

Background here, full gallery here.

Great gallery of old advertising illustrated by Dr Seuss (via ...

This entry was posted in Photo Essays and tagged Advertising History Illustration Seuss on February 3, 2012 by Sam Roberts

It Hasta be Shasta San Francisco — Great collection of signs and a write up on the Perception Filter blog about this soft drink campaign in San Francisco. More here.

‘It hasta be SHASTA’: Great slogan and preservation debate from ...

This entry was posted in Individual Signs and tagged Drink Ghostsigns Illustration Kasey Smith People Perception Filter San Francisco Shasta Slogan Soft Drink USA on January 15, 2012 by Sam Roberts

Bull Dairies painted sign on wall by Nick Stenning — I received an email this morning from a mural artist with an interest in working to restore/repaint Ghostsigns in the UK. She found me via a great project being run by the London Mural Preservation Society. I started drafting a response and then realised I’ve […]

Fresh lick of paint

This entry was posted in Sign Preservation and tagged Alcohol Ale Animals Archive Baker Banks's Beer Bile Beans Black & Son Bread Bulls Dairies Cake Coal Coke Corn Dairy Daren Donovan Bros Fish & Chips Food Forage Grocers Health Illustration Isaac Marsh Lime Medicine Melox Clarke's Melox Marvels Merchant Stores Milk Paper Bags Pies Price Tickets Protection Puddings Pulbis Dog Food Restoration Retail Seed Signwriter Stage Wagon Stationery Strong Carrier Bags The Tulketh Transport Travel William Swan on May 7, 2011 by Sam Roberts

Gillette Razors Spitalfields Frank Jump — Frank Jump just posted this London sign he photographed while visiting in Spring 2001. It’s a classic Gillette ad with the characteristic blue background colour. The sign below is one I took on Clapham High Street and part of a an ongoing Campaign that Gillette ran […]

Gillette Razors

This entry was posted in Individual Signs and tagged Frank Jump Gillette Health Illustration London Razors Received Research Shave Spitalfields UK on July 2, 2007 by Sam Roberts

Panasonic Bicycle New York — Lena found this one some time ago lurking on the Wikipedia entry for Panasonic [Update: It no longer appears there]. It’s a fantastically simple design and a really nice photo from Uris. See the full size image here [Update: Link no longer active]. The infomation on […]

Panasonic (New York)

This entry was posted in Individual Signs and tagged Bicycle Illustration New York Panasonic Slogan Transport Travel USA on June 25, 2007 by Sam Roberts

Mister Furniture Beziers — My mum just got back from France where there is a great tradition of painted sign writing. This one is from Beziers in the south of the country and says “Mister Furniture Sauvagnac”. See this website for more French examples.

Mister Furniture (France)

This entry was posted in Individual Signs and tagged Beziers France Furniture Household Illustration Mister Furniture Sauvagnac on June 25, 2007 by Sam Roberts

Collosal Media Dewars Fish — The art of large scale sign writing lives on in New York, USA through the work of Colossal Media A full gallery of their work is available on their site but here are a couple of highlights, one more old school and one much more […]

Colossal Media

This entry was posted in Related Work and tagged Alcohol Colossal Media Dewars Games Grand Theft Auto GTA Illustration Modern Brickads New York Slogan USA Whisky on June 20, 2007 by Sam Roberts

Peterkin Custard Ghostsign — Further to the post on Louis Sheldon-Williams, here’s my photo of the full Peterkin’s Custard sign (featured in the Time Out piece). The little boy looks to be of Dutch origin (look at the clogs) but information on the company is thin on the ground.

Peterkin’s Custard

This entry was posted in Individual Signs and tagged Custard Food Illustration London Peterkin St John's Hill UK on June 19, 2007 by Sam Roberts