The Savannah morning news., 1901-11-14
SHOPS AND THEIR SIGNS.
Quaint Advertisements of London's
Ancient Tradesmen.

From the London Globe.
When signs and signboards are talk
ed of nowadays. it is only in connec-
ton with inns and public houses. But
in days gone by every shop. every
place of business or of entertainment
had its sign. and motley collection
they were. The hanging signs of every
SHAPE and kind must have added
greatly to the picturesqueness of the
business streets of old London. The
Strand, Fleet Street. st. Paul's Church
yard, Cheapside, and the neighborhood
of the old Exchange were the leading
business thoroughfares, and from the
quaint old houses, with their over
hanging stories, there projected over
the narrow footway, scantily marked
off from the roadway by a line of
posts, signs of every conceivable de-
gree of incongruity.
Congruity, indeed. seems to have
been very seldom thought of. Book
sellers sometimes, either by chance or
intentionally distinguished their shops
by more or less appropriate sign
board. This was specially the case in
the eighteenth century. The Tully's
Head is a famous example. Jacob
in the Strand in i712, and in 1859 there
was booksellers shop behind the Elk
change, known as the Ben Johnsons
Head: but other bibiliophiles seem to
have had little thought of appropriate
ness in their signs. An edition of
Buttons Melancholy" which appear
ed in 1876, was sold "at the sign of
the Legg and Star''-an odd combi
nation--"over against the Royal Ex
ci,o u,
of the Elizabethan time, who con-
gregated chiefly in st. Pauls Church
yard. had an odd variety of signs.
Sponsors Shepherds Calendar" was
originally sold at the "Gylden TUNE.
in Greed Lane, and the second edition
appeared at the 'Anker," in Paternost-
er Row. Another book of the same
era was to be brought out at the Cat
and Parrots in Cornhill Sacred names
were used without thought Of irrever
ence. A tract of 1851 was issued at
the Sign of the Resurrection. a little
above Holborn Conduite' and so late
as 1918 the bible and Dove was the
! sign of a booksellers shop in Fleet
| Street
| But anonymously odd signs were
not confined to bookshops A seven
teenth century board represented Adam
and Eve sitting under a tree, with the
garden seeds of all kinds could be
had in any quantity at the Red Cross
and Golden Lion lin Soper Lane. near
Cheapside. the ancient place for Gar
den seeds in London" while clover and
the like could be bought at the Cross
Keys. in Lombard Street. or at the
Naked Boy, in the Strand. The last
named sign seems somewhat fantastic.
but II appears to have been a favorite.
&c 1rf0 81 nf
and their signs nearly all incongrous.
in some verses printed in 1912 under
the title of 'Pasquin's Nightcap. After
mentioning a grocer at the Frying Pan,
a draper at the Bell. and a goldsmith
at the Rose, the writer continues:
And Master Miles the mercer at the
Harrow;
And Master Nicke the silkman at
the Pillow:
And Master Giles the salter at the
| Sparrow:
And Master Dicke the vintner at
| the Cow;
And Harry Haberdasher at the Horne
And oliver the dyer at the Thorne;
And Bernard, barber-surgeon, at the
Fiddle:
And Moses. merchant-tailor. at the
| Needle.
Occasionally a proprietor showed
sense OF humor in the choice of sign.
as, for instance, when Mrs. Salmon
in the time of Queen Anne, opened
waxwork show in St. Martins lie
Grand, and hung out as her sing the
name and device OF the Golden Sal
mon; but such a choice was excep-
tional. Humor of this kind seems to
| have been more common among the
eighteenth century shopkeepers In
Boston. Mass. Mrs. Earle, in one of her
interesting and valuable books on
American social life in bygone days.
mentions among the Boston shops and
signs in 1861 a goldsmith at the Golden
Ball. halter at the HIATT and
Beaver" and another at the Hiatt and
Helmitt," draper at the strange COM
bination of the Stays and Wheatsheaf,
and dealer In knives at the Crown
and Razor Mrs Earle says that Sin
front of a nautical instrument store on
the corner of State and Broad Streets,
Boston, still stands a quaint wooden
| figure of an ancient naval officer, re-
! splendent in his blue coat, cooked hat.
short breeches, stockings, and buckles,
holding in his hand a quadrant. The
old fellow has stood in this place con-
| tinually. taking observations of the
sun, for upward of 100 years" This
description reminds one OF the similar
| figure that stood outside the shop of
old Solomon ellis. the intrument maker
as described in Dickens "Dombey and
Son" The tall wooden figure Of
Highlander taking snuff. which may
still be seen at the door OF one or two
tobacconists' shops. is another survival
of the same kind.
Many OF the present-day public
house and inn signs seem strangely
grotesque and far from easy OF ex-
PLANTATION; but strange names and COM
binations we're 10 be found among the
shop slgnboardS OF old One or two
Of those already mentioned, such as the
Cat and Parrots and the Naked Boy.
seem meaningless. Such incongruous
absurdlties did not pass unnOticed by
contemporary satristE. A contributor
10 The British Apollo Of 1910 thus COM
mented on the absurd combinations 20
be seen on London signb0ards.
I'm amazed a. the signs
A. / pass through the town.
To zee the odd mixture
a Maybe and crown
The Whsle and the crow,
The Razor and Hen.
The Leg ana seven Stars
-sa 1a
Little Iehnnsiis's mother feYns hsf
one day vim her face covered eifh
jan from ear 80 eaF oh asannfiaeN
I AID nar uigfHaf Hsrasf nlDIfla 4an