One of the photographic themes that has arisen down the years on this blog is public signs. I have enjoyed quite a few that I've seen as I've travelled the country, some perplexing, some intentionally humorous, some unintentionally humorous and others engagingly redolent of the age in which they were made. Today's example that I photographed in Borough Market, Southwark, London falls into the latter category.
The sign itself dates from 1908 and may be original or a copy of an original. The case that holds it is probably original. What I like about this sign is the interesting use of language and punctuation. How odd, for example, that the words "Borough Market Trust" and "Notice" have a full stop after them. This is something that is being done consciously occasionally today by companies such as EAT., but in the main those full stops would be thought superfluous now. It's interesting too that "Beadles" were employed to maintain security in the market and that the police were not deemed sufficient in this regard. I like too, "Loiterers or other suspicious characters", descriptions that we wouldn't use today. It reminds me of the "lurkers" that populate the alley ways of London in Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. For more of my photographs of signs follow this link.
photograph and text © Tony Boughen
Photo Title: Notice, Borough Market, Southwark
Camera: Olympus E-M10
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 39mm (78mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/80 sec
ISO:2500
Exposure Compensation: -0.3EV
