Colin Howells

But you see, _you're_ trapped in this subway car with _me_ … would you like a jelly baby?

Still love the Byrne FF run

Lettres Décoratives and the History of French Sign Painting Lettres Décoratives: A Century of French Sign Painter Alphabets _is the new book from_ _Letterform Archive_ _. Here’s a glimpse inside, plus the recording of last week’s online event where I got to talk with_ _Morgane Côme_ _about her work on the book’s introductory essay._ ## Lettres Décoratives **From Letterform Archive / Morgane Côme** _Lettres Décoratives_ is a monumental publication in every sense of the word. Weighing in at a colossal 1.8 kg (4 lb), it is filled with a stunning collection of plates from French sign painter portfolios printed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These have been painstakingly reproduced, with care taken to faithfully match the brilliant colours on the original chromolithographic prints. Two of the featured plates by Nicolas Glaise from his 1882 publication, __Modèles de Lettres Sur Vingt Tons de Fonds Différents__ (Model Letters on Twenty Different Background Tones). Each of the 12 portfolios, spanning the period 1875–1932, is introduced by a short text discussing stylistic themes and giving notes on their creators and the context in which they were produced. The plates themselves then range from relatively simple presentations of alphabets to virtuoso compositions by master craftspeople of the time. In between, there’s everything from beautiful Art Nouveau sign designs to incredible dimensional effects applied to quintessentially French letterforms. Spreads from __Lettres Décoratives__ , which measures a whopping 25 × 34 mm (9.3 × 13 in). All of this is set up for the reader by an extended, and accessible, essay by French sign painter Morgane Côme. (The essay, and the book, is in English.) This walks through the history of signs and sign painting in France, placing the portfolios in context and examining the role they have to play as the craft finds itself in resurgence in the country. It’s a fascinating read and perhaps the first time that such a detailed account of France’s sign painting story has been made widely available. Work from the portfolios of Paul Fleury and Louis Ramade for the ‘Inside Letterform Archive’ column in BLAG 02. I had been anticipating this book ever since Stephen Coles dropped a hint that it was in progress during one his BLAG Meet sessions. (There was a also a little appetiser in the ‘Inside Letterform Archive’ piece in BLAG 02.) However, I was not prepared for being quite as awestruck as I was when I received my copy a couple of weeks ago. ’ __Lettres Décoratives: A Century of French Sign Painters’ Alphabets__ pagethrough’ on Vimeo. No corners have been cut in producing the book, and the design by Violaine & Jérémy is as masterful as its contents. Their cover is a case in point: it takes inspiration from the letterforms within, with the addition of debossed panels and subtle gold foil accents. There’s then the chef’s kiss of having the text on the spine set on a brush handle and oriented in the French-European direction, versus the archive’s other publications. ### The History and Craft of French Sign Painting To celebrate the book’s launch last month, Letterform Archive hosted one of their regular Salon sessions. I was honoured to join author Morgane Côme in exploring some of the themes from her essay and placing these, and the portfolios, within a wider, international context. The recording from the event is available to watch here. ‘Salon Series 56: The History and Craft of French Sign Painting’ on Vimeo. As I say at the beginning of the session, hats off to everyone involved in the creation of this exceptional publication. I would say it’ll take pride of place on my shelf, but I’d need to get a taller shelf for it to actually fit. I guess that means its rightful place is front and centre on the coffee table! __Lettres Décoratives: A Century of French Sign Painter Alphabets__ is out now and available to purchase from the BLAG shop and directly from Letterform Archive. Buy the Book * * * ### More Books Books & Publications on Better Letters MagazinePublications about sign painting, lettering and typography.BLAG Magazine: Adventures in Sign Painting Craft, Community & CultureBetter Letters ### More History Sign & Sign Painting HIstory on Better Letters MagazineThe history of signs, sign painting and sign painters.BLAG Magazine: Adventures in Sign Painting Craft, Community & CultureBetter Letters

Inside Letterform Archive’s new book and a video presentation from its author, Morgane Côme.

Wow, that's excellent

Live bait
Mulga, AL

Rowdy Roddy Piper dons the They Live sunglasses, in an analogy to the naked clarity all would experience if we just sent prompts to each other instead of outputs

justsendtheprompt.com

sign toilet one place one dream

Tasty Motorsport Treats Racing Chocs

I'm in the US so I can't partake but I think you're in the UK? racingchocs.com

Autechre Guitar, now shipping

boomkat.com/products/aut...

Special image for this show designed by Adrian Shaughnessy, who designed (uncredited) the original Sun Ra Nuclear War 12" (Y Records 1982 UK).

“We’re Trying to Save Your Ass!” Sun Ra / Nuclear War Mega Mix (1982-1988)

🚨FIVE HOURS OF NOTHING BUT NUCLEAR WAR!🚨

Now archived @wfmu.bsky.social

STREAM ▶️ wfmu.org/playlists/sh...

Intrigued – but is there any further information or docs?

A cutaway view of the interiors of the Discovery, the spaceship from 2001.

For Sci-Fi Cutaway Saturday, Oliver Rennart's art for '2001: A Space Odyssey'

James Proudfoot (UK 1908-1971)
Sun on a House, Dieppe (1937)
oil on canvas

So sad to share that legendary colorist Tatjana Wood has passed away at the age of 99. Her pioneering painterly touch graced scores of DC & Vertigo series. She was truly one of a kind and a special friend. May her memory be a blessing.

Thanks for calling these guys out, I was not familiar and am digging their stuff

Bahia Youth Orchestra Rehearsal Hall - Salvador, Brazil by Leopoldo Banchini (2023) r/brutalism

MORE BESTIAL

Tortoise
Millions Now Living Will Never Die (1996)
2026 Pressing.

how is this 30 years old whatttth

boomkat.com/products/mil...

Not a heiress to a world-renowned beer brand, just 'Gunness' (gun-ness?)

it's beginning:

github.com/tldraw/tldra...

PageMaker pioneer Paul Brainerd, 1947-2026: Aldus founder devoted his second chapter to the planet Paul Brainerd, who coined the term "desktop publishing" and built Aldus Corporation's PageMaker into one of the defining programs of the personal computer era, died Sunday at his home on Bainbridge Is...

Sad to see Paul Brainerd has passed. Amazing career in business and environmental advocacy. Without him, I’d have had no career! I met him a few times in the early Internet days. www.geekwire.com/2026/pagemak...

Detail of ainu cikarkarpe ceremonial kimono, homespun handwoven cotton. Hokkaido, late 19th / early 20 century

A gamine Eliane Radigue, legendary electroacoustic composer, photographed in 1958 by Jacques Brisseaut

Carol Tyler, better than the rest

How we rebuilt Next.js with AI in one week One engineer used AI to rebuild Next.js on Vite in a week. vinext builds up to 4x faster, produces 57% smaller bundles, and deploys to Cloudflare Workers with a single command.

There is no moat any more.

blog.cloudflare.com/vinext/

The World of Harmonics — with a Coffee, Guitar and Synth Exploring the world of sounds and the passion behind myNoise, with Dr. Ir. Stéphane Pigeon

Delightful stuff from bsky.app/profile/dimr...

Boris Tane AI agents didn't make the SDLC faster. They killed it. All that's left is context.

‘The entire lifecycle, the one we’ve built careers around, the one that spawned a multi-billion dollar tooling industry, is collapsing in on itself’

A Guardian of the Kingdom' from Qazwini’s “The marvels of creation and the oddities of existence” 1500-50 CE

Are you thinking of Giffen, maybe?

Giffen got into hot water from repeatedly basing his style on others (inc. Von Eeden). This was beyond homage or 'influence'. I think he needed an established design language as a foundation to create, found some he liked, and it became an uncontrollable tendency