Places

Signs of the Summer: Postcards from a Busman's Holiday

A brush with Napoli in London, French ghost signs, George Biles in Bridport, and more holiday snaps.

Better Letters

Sep 5, 2024 • 8 min read

Spotted in London: a showcard from veteran Napoli sign painter, Pasquale De Stefano.

I've recently returned from some much-needed time away but, as I'm sure you know, sign spotters are never really 'off duty'. Here are some snaps, notes, and links from my travels that include a peek at the wonderful George Biles exhibition in Bridport, an Italian sign painter in London, ghost signs from France, and more.

The Gorgeous Gorges

The bulk of my time was spent with family in the wonderful Gorges d'Heric, a place I've been visiting for over 30 years. Freshwater swimming, walking, and slowing down are the name of the game.

A painted sign in nearby Mons-la-Trivalle points the way to the scenic Gorges d'Heric.

The closest village with a shop, bar, post office, etc, is Mons-la-Trivalle. While I'd seen these signs many times before, I finally stopped to take some photos.

The stencilled post office parking sign is redundant now that the post office has moved, while the 'Boules des Gorges' sign is relatively recent and signed JJT and RC. The brushstrokes on the DIY no entry sign also caught my eye.

Fête's Fate

Across the summer, every village and town in the area hosts a fête (fair/festival). At one of these, in Prémian, I was lucky catch a performance from the wonderful Sebastopol One Man Band, who also had some painted lettering incorporated into his set design.

A man holding a guitar and surrounded by an array of different musical instruments and their cases. Behind him is a large circular fan-like structure with a vertical line of vinyl records mounted in the middle and painted signs above that read "L'incroyable homme orchestra". One of the cases immediately in front of his legs is made of metal and painted with "One Man Band Sabastopol". — The Sebastopol One Man Band played mainly blues and folk on his array of conventional and custom-built instruments.

Sebastopol One Man Band · 07 That's Allright Mama

Local Ghost Signs

Rural France is riddled with ghost signs, and the brilliant Roadside Advertisements site continues to be an excellent resource for exploring these. (I've also got a few stories from France on the Ghostsigns blog.)

It's always a delicate balance deciding whether to pull over to take a photo, and I often have to let some go, or at least wait another year.

This very faded Suze sign shows how these rural ghosts are often located in picturesque settings.

This garage sign in Le Poujol-sur-Orb uses of a variant of the Banco font—see also Etienne Renard's 'Chain Letter'—and I'm guessing that this partial fascia sign in Bedarieux would have had the word 'masculin' on the left and the full word 'coifferie' (hairdresser) in the central panel.

Close-up of stonework above an arched doorway. Set across the keystone, and those either side of it, is a fading panel of paint with lettering in red on a blue background that is legible enough to make out the word 'dames'. — A simple panel that once directed train passengers to the ladies toilets at Olargues station. This branch of the line has been converted into a recreational route for walkers and cyclists, with a pizza restaurant now occupying these former facilities.

On the trains theme, but not 'in the wild', these two hand-painted signs used to give passengers details of the time and destination of trains on the lines that ran through Bedarieux and Faugeres. They are among the displays at the Musée du Train et de la Photographie (museum of trains and photography) in Bedarieux.

View of stone building at street level. A large fading painted sign runs horizontally between low-level windows and those on the first floor, reading "Imprimerie". It is painted in white letters with a black outline, set on a red background with a black border. Across a small road just beyond the end of the sign is another that has some red lettering for various butchering services, and the business name in a cursive lettering style. — I've always liked this Art Deco sign for a printers in Bedarieux, and only noticed from this angle the arrow is pointing to a smaller sign board for the J. Fuentes butchers, again with some Banco-inspired letters (see garage sign above).

London Signing

After a couple of nights back home in Spain, it was off to London for a flying/working visit. One of my jobs was leading my Ghostsigns Walking Tours for some private groups, as well as delivering one public walk.

Stops on the Bankside Ghostsigns Walk and the Stoke Newington Ghostsigns Walk. The Albion House Clothing Co. sign remains visible in spite of the land in front being cleared to make way for a tall hotel that will eventually cover it up. The Cakebread Robey & Co. palimpsest was one of the signs illuminated by Craig Winslow for the 2016 London Design Festival. (Check out some more stops on the Ghostsigns Walking Tours.)

Dapper Lives

Wandering around Stoke Newington, I passed by a Dapper Signs original, painted for Bolt London in 2017. And, on a lamppost in front, the sticker by Kenji Nakayama and Peter Liedberg from the sheet inside BLAG 05.

'Your favorite sign painter's favourite signwriter: James Cooper, Dapper Signs'.

Deli De Stefano

I also noticed a new addition to the window display at the wonderful Gallo Nero delicatessen.

Small hand-painted sign in a window with a yellow border, a pictorial of a chicken cutting ham, and lettering that reads 'Gallo Nero, Delicatessen, Londra' in black, blue, and red lettering respectively.. — A showcard from the hand of Pasquale De Stefano in Napoli.

I recognised the work as that of Napoli's veteran sign painter Pasquale De Stefano, who I first heard about via this Fanpage profile, whicb includes the video below.

Fanpage profile of Pasquale De Stefano (in Italian).

I popped in to ask them about the showcard and it turns out they'd commissioned two other pieces, and also had a page-per-day calendar with the numbers all originally painted by De Stefano.

Work by Pasquale De Stefano inside Stoke Newington's Gallo Nero delicatessen.

It's Me, Hi...

I got to check out the new facilities at Abney Park Cemetery, including a display of work by Archie Proudfoot in the cafe. (Archie's Shed of the Year features in BLAG 04, and there's more about his creative journey in the post 'Going Clear: Clients and the Prison of Commissions'.)

Yours truly in one of the mirrored hands of HI by Archie Proudfoot, and some more of his work on show in the cafe at Abney Park Cemetery.

Brian Walker

Another little job I did in London was interview retired Hackney sign painter Brian Walker. This is with a view to making another short film—news to follow.

Talking to Brian was fascinating, and he happened to mention that he was a friend and colleague of another local sign painter, Jah Globe, who is immortalised on the Hackney Peace Carnival Mural.

In addition to his sign painting work, Brian Walker was heavily involved with music hall and variety shows at Chats Palace, and draw this publicity piece in 1982. Jah Globe also straddled the worlds of entertainment and sign painting, and is shown here on the saxophone on the Hackney Peace Carnival Mural.

Bridport Bound

I had high expectations for the George Biles exhibition in Bridport, Dorset, but was completely unprepared for what was waiting for me after the four hour journey down from London. The material on display was just a fraction of what is retained in various collections, and it is not an exageration to say that it is of national, if not international significance.

I'll be sharing more from the show in a later post, so this is just a teaser of what's in store.

This was just one of the three locations that hosted George Biles: King of Signwriters in Bridport, Dorset, 1–29 August 2024.

I was joined on the trip by Sarah Hyndman at Type Tasting, and we met up with Joe Coleman who ferried us along the beautiful Dorset coast from Dorchester to Bridport—thanks Joe! Once there, we were joined by Andy from AJ Signs and taken under the wing of exhibition curator Jemma Thompson.

Jemma Thompson is making her own impression on the town of Bridport through her sign painting for numerous local businesses.

Large brown double doors on a stone building with windows set in the upper portions. On the wooden slats beneath are painted letters advertising "Oxenbury & Sons, Coach Builders (Since 1853)". — Andy from AJ Signs also works in the town, and painted these garage doors in 2006. (See some more recent work from Andy in the post 'Bringing a Gilded Victorian Transom Window Back to Life'.

And, of course, I did a bit of ghost sign spotting.

Two stencilled SWS (static water supply) ghost signs are fading reminders of the World War II.

The second SWS ghost sign was on the wall of the Palmers Brewery. George Biles work for Palmers for many years, and their signs were a major part of the exhibition. We were lucky to be taken on a tour of the brewery, which included a look at some signs that pre-date the time that Biles was working for them.

Old hanging sign on a wall with gilded and painted lettering that says "Volunteer Inn" with some scrollwork between the two words. — An antique sign for the Volunteer Inn pub, which now hangs in a display room at the Palmers Brewery in Bridport, Dorset.

Back to School

As always after some time off, I'm bursting with ideas for the year ahead, fuelled in part by some of the inspiring things I've seen over the last month or so. But first up, it's back to school with getting BLAG 06 ready for layout, and the line-up finalised for BLAG Meet: Inside Issue 05.

All good things, Sam

sam@bl.ag | bl.ag