All Things Letters
All Things Letters
Chris Campe, »Hamburg Alphabet«, Hamburger Ladenschilder von A-Z, Ausgabe 2010 und 2020 All Things Letters – Chris Campe, Hamburg
Doppelseite aus dem Buch »Hamburg Alphabet« von Chris Campe, Junius Verlag, 2010 All Things Letters – Chris Campe, Hamburg
Hamburger Ladenschilder von A-Z, Doppelseite »D-E« aus dem Buch »Hamburg Alphabet« von Chris Campe, Junius Verlag, 2010 All Things Letters – Chris Campe, Hamburg
Hamburger Ladenschilder von A-Z, Doppelseite »Frisör« aus dem Buch »Hamburg Alphabet« von Chris Campe, Junius Verlag, 2010 All Things Letters – Chris Campe, Hamburg
Artisten-Atelier – Doppelseite aus dem Buch »Hamburg Alphabet« von Chris Campe, Ausgabe 2010 und 2020 All Things Letters – Chris Campe, Hamburg

Spot the difference! The covers of the two editions are almost identical, because the neon lettering of the Motel Hamburg has hardly changed.

The development becomes clear on the very first page: many of the signs from the 2010 edition of Hamburg Alphabet had disappeared in 2020.

Don’t worry, the sign of Hamburg’s fairground “DOM” is still there, it was just mothballed when the Heiligengeistfeld was being renovated.

Unfortunately lost forever: The Ö that looked like an udder on the homemade sign of a hairdresser shop—<3!

If you are not only interested in Hamburg’s shop signs, but also in the city’s history, you should leaf through both books at the same time and compare. The before and after photos tell you a lot about how the city’s surface changed between 2010 and 2020.

Hamburg Alphabet 2010

Hamburg shop signs
from A to Z

  • 96 pages, 220 color photos
  • hardcover, 17 x 12 cm
  • 1. edition 2010
  • introduction in German and English
  • Junius Verlag
  • ISBN 978-3-88506-466-4
  • 14,90 Euro

Order Hamburg
Alphabet
2010

»Yesterday« Lettering Gif von Chris Campe

City History in Shop Signs

For the Hamburg Alphabet, I rode my bike 1547 km through Hamburg and photographed over 1000 different signs. The 220 most remarkable ones are in the book, in alphabetical order—as a typographic portrait of the city.

New Edition After 10 Years

Like every portrait, the Hamburg Alphabet was a snapshot. That’s why I’ve published an updated new edition to mark the book’s tenth anniversary. The layout is the same, but I re-photographed all the signs. Some pages only show empty walls, because since 2010 more than 40 percent of the signs in the book have disappeared.

Hamburg Alphabet 2020

Hamburg shop signs, ten years later

  • 1. edition 2020, limited to 250 copies, signed and numbered
  • 96 pages, 220 color photos
  • hardcover, 17 x 12 cm
  • self pulished, without ISBN
  • 14,90 Euro, plus shipping
»Today« Lettering Gif von Chris Campe

Order Hamburg
Alphabet
2020

Chris Campe, »Hamburg Alphabet«, Hamburger Ladenschilder von A-Z, Ausgabe 2010 und 2020 All Things Letters – Chris Campe, Hamburg
Doppelseite aus dem Buch »Hamburg Alphabet« von Chris Campe, Junius Verlag, 2010 All Things Letters – Chris Campe, Hamburg
Hamburger Ladenschilder von A-Z, Doppelseite »D-E« aus dem Buch »Hamburg Alphabet« von Chris Campe, Junius Verlag, 2010 All Things Letters – Chris Campe, Hamburg
Hamburger Ladenschilder von A-Z, Doppelseite »Frisör« aus dem Buch »Hamburg Alphabet« von Chris Campe, Junius Verlag, 2010 All Things Letters – Chris Campe, Hamburg
Artisten-Atelier – Doppelseite aus dem Buch »Hamburg Alphabet« von Chris Campe, Ausgabe 2010 und 2020 All Things Letters – Chris Campe, Hamburg

Spot the difference! The covers of the two editions are almost identical, because the neon lettering of the Motel Hamburg has hardly changed.

The development becomes clear on the very first page: many of the signs from the 2010 edition of Hamburg Alphabet had disappeared in 2020.

Don’t worry, the sign of Hamburg’s fairground “DOM” is still there, it was just mothballed when the Heiligengeistfeld was being renovated.

Unfortunately lost forever: The Ö that looked like an udder on the homemade sign of a hairdresser shop—<3!

If you are not only interested in Hamburg’s shop signs, but also in the city’s history, you should leaf through both books at the same time and compare. The before and after photos tell you a lot about how the city’s surface changed between 2010 and 2020.

Hamburg Alphabet 2010

Hamburg shop signs
from A to Z

  • 96 pages, 220 color photos
  • hardcover, 17 x 12 cm
  • 1. edition 2010
  • introduction in German and English
  • Junius Verlag
  • ISBN 978-3-88506-466-4
  • 14,90 Euro
»Yesterday« Lettering Gif von Chris Campe

City History in Shop Signs

For the Hamburg Alphabet, I rode my bike 1547 km through Hamburg and photographed over 1000 different signs. The 220 most remarkable ones are in the book, in alphabetical order—as a typographic portrait of the city.

New Edition After 10 Years

Like every portrait, the Hamburg Alphabet was a snapshot. That’s why I’ve published an updated new edition to mark the book’s tenth anniversary. The layout is the same, but I re-photographed all the signs. Some pages only show empty walls, because since 2010 more than 40 percent of the signs in the book have disappeared.

Order Hamburg
Alphabet
2010

Hamburg Alphabet 2020

Hamburg shop signs, ten years later

  • 1. edition 2020, limited to 250 copies, signed and numbered
  • 96 pages, 220 color photos
  • hardcover, 17 x 12 cm
  • self pulished, without ISBN
  • 14,90 Euro, plus shipping
»Today« Lettering Gif von Chris Campe

Order Hamburg
Alphabet
2020