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How cool is YOUR signature?

signatures1.jpgCheck out this great resource for identifying Life magazine’s illustrators’ signatures! These are the John Henrys of some of the finest illustrators of the Golden Age. It’s worth looking at because back then every artist was exceptionally well trained at hand lettering – and many took pride in designing beautiful signatures and monograms. This is for all you typography geeks – talk about a killer source for getting font ideas from, especially if your interest is vintage commercial letterforms. Art Deco, anyone?? Or Expressionism? Or just really weird handwriting?

As well, they have included a page of Unknowns – I know there are some illo historians out there – can you help them out by identifying some?

Warning: abysmally slow loading pages. (Or maybe it’s just me.)

  • http://www.adamkoford.com/ Adam

    As an art teacher once told me: no one will remember your name if they can’t read your signature.

  • http://www.adamkoford.com Adam

    As an art teacher once told me: no one will remember your name if they can’t read your signature.

  • http://www.theispot.com/ davetabler

    “These are the John Henrys of some of the finest illustrators of the Golden Age.”

    You mean John Hancock, the Declaration of Independence signer with the swirling flourish.

  • http://www.theispot.com davetabler

    “These are the John Henrys of some of the finest illustrators of the Golden Age.”

    You mean John Hancock, the Declaration of Independence signer with the swirling flourish.

  • http://www.groveartworks.com/ jaleen

    No, where I grew up, not in America, we actually say “John Henry”.

  • http://www.groveartworks.com jaleen

    No, where I grew up, not in America, we actually say “John Henry”.

  • adambackstrom

    A lot of people say John Henry, but the origin of the term comes from the mistaken use of John Henry vs. John Hancock. There was a time when more people in middle America probably knew about John Henry than John Hancock. But if you think about it, the use of the name John Henry in describing a signature does not make sense. The use of the term John Hancock is both well known and well documented.

  • adambackstrom

    A lot of people say John Henry, but the origin of the term comes from the mistaken use of John Henry vs. John Hancock. There was a time when more people in middle America probably knew about John Henry than John Hancock. But if you think about it, the use of the name John Henry in describing a signature does not make sense. The use of the term John Hancock is both well known and well documented.