CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 2/5/2026

The romance of hand-painted signage, courtesy of Belle Époque France

Graphic designers, typographers and Francophiles, rejoice! Letterform Archive has published the book you didn’t know you needed, but without which you will no longer be able to live. Collecting twelve gorgeous vintage alphabet albums used by 19th and 20th-century French sign painters during the golden age of hand-painted storefront signage, this oversized compendium functions as both a history lesson and a treasure-trove of templates for contemporary use. Originally published for tradesmen only, most of these familiar, yet ever so exotic abecedaria have never been published before. Expert sign painter and historian Morgane Côme writes: “As models, the plates from these portfolios are just waiting to be reused, revisited and adapted to the expectations of the twenty-first century. Designers may look to them as a valuable sourcebook for past styles or find jumping-off points to make something new. Digital-type revivals and experiments, perhaps even new tools for public lettering, could grow from the inventive letterforms and compositions that lie within. For those of us involved in sign painting, a trade that once almost vanished in France, these plates help anchor the practice in history. Now is an exciting moment. Although our numbers remain small (perhaps a hundred professionals, compared to five thousand in 1980), today we inherit a craft less closely tethered to decoration and more open to invention.”