PUBLIC COLLECTORS

One of the many hand-drawn signs at a small bicycle and ski sales and repair shop in Graz, Austria.

One of the many hand-drawn signs at a small bicycle and ski sales and repair shop in Graz, Austria.

One of the many hand-drawn signs at a small bicycle and ski sales and repair shop in Graz, Austria.

Portrait of a 50% off sale. Photographed this afternoon along N. Milwaukee Avenue in Chicago’s Avondale neighborhood.

How to Write Signs, Tickets and Posters, edited by Paul N. Hasluck, published by David McKay Company, Philadelphia, PA, undated.

I’m still trying to catch up on my Tumblr posting following the trip to Denmark and I’m in the midst of a ton of fresh new work that is limiting my online time. Here is the first post in a set of scans from a pile of cheap 45’s that I picked up at a flea market in Copenhagen. A copy of “Jungle Fever” by the Tornados on Decca Records with a handmade sleeve.

An exceptionally disturbing street flyer from the anonymous Chicago resident whose posted writings I have documented before. Spotted today in Wicker Park - there were multiple copies applied to street poles with the usual clear packing tape, only this time the message had been photocopied for wider circulation. Other examples of this person’s messages focus on this same building, a woman who is a drug addict and thief, and the availability of electric hot plates at Mitchell Hardware. This person also commonly advertizes brick homes for sale in the same manner. Note that out of consideration for the people living at this address (who I do not believe are doing the things the author says they are doing) I have chosen to block out their building number.

A new, and comparatively mild, handwritten notice by one of my favorite anonymous public scribes in Chicago. Earlier announcements that I’ve posted focus on men who kidnap teenage girls and a woman who is a drug addict and thief.

A sign at Occupy Chicago, photographed earlier today. At Occupy Chicago, every sign is a hand-drawn sign - yet another reason to be down with these great protests!

A hand-drawn sign in New York City’s Chinatown.

More outdoor photographic collections and explorations from Chicago: a cryptic hand-painted message in Logan Square.

It has been a while since Public Collectors indulged its hand-lettered sign fetish but here’s a fine example photographed today in Faro, Portugal.

The front cover of a young girl’s school assignment, circa late 1930s to early 1940s, that is one of many papers I picked up at a flea market yesterday morning. More posts from this haul to follow.

Documentation of a bathroom sign, taken yesterday in Atlanta at Charlie’s Trading Post. This amazing store, packed with an endless selection of bargain-priced work shirts, pants and fishing gear, is owned and operated by a former NASCAR driver and located directly across the street from a massive prison. Special thanks to my host Steve Jarvis for knowing what I needed to see in his fine city.