I really enjoy the style of old signs from the early 1900's and on up through the 50's and was wondering if any of you have any good ideas on books and styles of lettering you have seen that would be worth reading.
I collect old signs and they just seem to have so much more charm and quality to them then many of the signs you see today.
The style seemed very simple and straight forward and even the colors were just plain but yet they have this rare quality about them.
If you know of any good books on lettering from this era please let me know.
I find my interest is really in just doing old style hand painted signs at this point in time along with pinstriping panels.
Thanks for your help. Jimmy Hill
Posted by John Lennig (Member # 2455) on :
Good morning Jim, hey, could you be my long lost twin!!?? My interests lay in the sme area, brush, old and new!
Look for H.C. Martin's 1000 practical showcard layouts - 1930 edition, or a newer one, 1960's, all lettering. all the time. also E C Matthews book on Sign Painting Course, i picked up a 1960 edition, lots of window lettering from 40-50's at the back. I go to used book stores whereever and whenever i can, the Matthews book was 10.00 cdn (about 50 cents us!haha)...how far from Spearfish, SD to Palm Harbour??lol
John Lennig / SignRider I'd love to see your old sign collection...how far from Spearfish, SD to
Posted by Bob Stephens (Member # 858) on :
Hey Jon the E C Matthews book on Sign Painting Course, 1960 edition is the book that I learned to paint from. Still have and treasure it.
Posted by Golden (Member # 164) on :
Jimmy, I am an avid sign book collector. A few years ago I created my Top 25 classic sign painting books for the American Sign Museum.
You will find much of the information you seek on those pages. Hope it helps!
Mike Jackson
Posted by Lotti Prokott (Member # 2684) on :
Since he didn't mention it himself... don't miss out on clicking on Mike Jackson's webpage. You'll like what you see!
Posted by Bruce Williams (Member # 691) on :
Mike Jackson's list is sufficiently comprehensive,with Lotti's addition of Mike's own work. And then a decade ago or so, Gary Anderson had a bunch of us render Atkinson's book in color. That one is published by Signs of the Times.
Posted by Golden (Member # 164) on :
Gary Anderson organized the effort by assigning the plates in the old Atkinson book. Signs of the Times printed one plate each month until they were all shown in the magazine, then used the separations to print the book at a liveable price. David Butler did the cover art.
Later, Gary organized the secondary plates found in the Billboard section of some of the editions of the Atkinson book. Those pieces were brought to the Bloomington meeting and displayed there for all to see. A Magazine About Letterheads (AMAL)featured many of them in their magazines, but I don't think they ever made it to a book.
The Colorized Atkinson Plates Book is a very nice book to own, but the old original is top of my list.
The image above was my entry to the colorized book. That piece was done about 16 years ago.
Posted by Robert Thomas (Member # 1356) on :
Golden, I would love to find some originals, at like a garage sale!
I have a couple of art books from the teens & 1940s my dad passed on to me.
My dad, his dad & his dad were monument designers!
I have an antique blade holder, that pre-dates Exato knifes. I think they used surgical steel blades & resharpenable blades then.
Posted by Kent Smith (Member # 251) on :
What Mike said. Also Gary started to do the Henderson's manual, some of which were displayed at LetterRip in Bloomington, IL in 1991. My entries for the Atkinson project are on my site. It is still interesting to compare the originals with the colorized versions we did. The colorized book ISBN 0-944094-04-X. Using the titles from Mike, you can do a rare book search for many of the titles.
Posted by Golden (Member # 164) on :
Robert, Fortunately, the Atkinson book was sold for quite a few years and is relatively common. The original printing was in 1909. I see them on eBay quite often, though you might have to pay upwards of $100 to get an original. Signs of the Time reprinted that book in the mid-80s and you can find those around on occasions. Keep searching!
Also, the plate I was assigned was originally described as a muslin banner. When I asked Gary Anderson about it, he said they really didn't care what materials we used, so I made my project in reverse glass, using the colors Atkinson specified. I added the border elements to frame the design.
Overall, the craftsmanship of all the finished pieces was great! If you get a chance to pick one of the Colorized books, don't pass it up.
Posted by Kimberly Zanetti (Member # 2546) on :
I have the 1982 version of the Strong book (#2 on Mike's list) up on the Letterville Auction right now. It has about 18 hours left to go on it.
