American Sign Museum

6. Halsted: Modern Ornament & Design. 1927, 1985.

An original of this little jewel is very hard to find. With no alphabets, J.N. Halsted concentrated on illustrations, ornaments and graphic design. It covers a lot of ground with remnants of the Nouveau, Craftsman, and beginnings of Deco simplicity. Numerous plates have a noticeable oriental flavoring. While the book is heavily focused on ornament and design, Halsted did target it towards the sign industry with several plates containing sign panels, ribbons, and layouts. Signs of the Times reprinted this book in 1985 but I am told those copies are now out-of-print.

7. Matthews: Sign Painting Course. 1954 (1958).

E.C. Matthews was probably one of the more prolific authors of his time with between 15-20 different titles known. Besides being an outstanding sign writer, he was also an accomplished artist and illustrator. This book is heavily illustrated with his layouts, letterstyles, and ornaments but the text which covers about half of each page is equally informative. It is hard to call this book a beginning to end course on how to paint signs, but he did fill the pages with core day-to-day information that many sign designers and painters might need to know.

8. David: David's Practical Letterer. 1903.

This book was published by Thaddeus Davids Company but was compiled by Sidney Hackes and was illustrated by Arnold Binger. The first half of the book is fairly generic with basic instructions on brush and pen lettering. The last half is spiced up with some outstanding scrolls, panels, and nifty showcard layouts. This book probably doesn't make some people's Top Ten, but then again, it is fairly obscure.

9. Wagner: Blueprint Textbook of Sign & Showcard Lettering. 1926.

A sentimental favorite and quite interesting. Charles Wagner operated the Wagner School of Sign Arts in Boston and this book was used as the textbook. It was commonly used and probably had a lot to do with the "Boston" style: Many sign makers taking the course over the years. The book is probably loaded with about 70% text and the remaining 30% blueprint style plates. Of those plates, most are filled with varieties of alphabets with groupings of core alphabets and their variations. While it might not be loaded with inspirational designs, it probably merits a place in the Top Ten based on its influence on the trade.

10. Koller: Artistic Showcards-How to Design and Make Them. 1924.

E.L. Koller was the Director of Art Schools for the International Correspondence Schools and it appears it was mostly his artwork used in those textbooks. Information and illustrations were recombined in a variety of form throughout dozens of textbooks. Aside from the ICS textbooks, Koller also produced three or four stand alone books of which Artistic Showcards is one. Others in this stand alone series include: Artistic Signs and also Artistic Alphabets also printed in 1924. Presented in textbook form, this series covers a lot of ground starting with the basics right through journeyman quality pieces and examples. This book includes layouts, letterstyles, color schemes and ornamentation. Similar to the Wagner book, Koller's influence on the sign trade was probably easily observed for many years.

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