Forthcoming Philadelphia Ghost Sign book

History Press USA contacted me and asked if I would be interested in writing a book based on the The Philadelphia Ghost Sign Project blog. Of course I agreed. I’ll be designing the book myself, as well as helping design the other books in the series.

Working title: Philadelphia Ghost Signs – A visual record of faded advertisements in the City of Brotherly Love

The book will serve as a visual record of a few of the ghost signs and faded advertisements in and around the greater Philadelphia area. What is a ghost sign? A faded, painted sign, at least 50 years old, on an exterior building wall heralding an obsolete product, an outdated trademark or a clue to the history of the building’s occupancy. This work will be an attempt to document these once prominent but now quickly vanishing features of the urban landscape.

Working Table of Contents:
1. Old City
2. Center City
3. Northern Liberties/Callowhill
4. Fishtown/Port/Richmond/Kensington
5. North Philadelphia
6. South Philadelphia
6. Other Neighborhoods
– Manayunk
– Fairmount
– etc

Please let me know if you have any signs you’d like to see, neighborhoods you feel need to be represented, favorite signs from the site, etc. Any help you guys could provide would be much appreciated.

I’ll be keeping you posted on progress, shoot dates, and more as the book progresses. I’m also planning some interesting companion projects to coincide with the launch of the book. More details to come on those as well.

This will be my second book in publication. The first, 24687531 (An observation of Olde City Philadelphia), was an experiment in self-publication, and is available via Xlibris.