What's the missing word on this London ghost sign? @RoyReed recently got some better pictures than mine from the book, but we're stuck on the last line.
"___ Simple & Inexpensive"
[Rest in alt text]
I think I can see one of C/G/O as the first letter, and that it ends with an 'm' or 'rn', but none of the permutations are suggesting any fitting words.
Please reply with answers/guesses, and boost to get more eyes on it...
![Brick wall with a stucco panel set within a scalloped molded border. There is a fading painted sign on the panel which is more visible on the rightmost two thirds due to the leftmost third having a coat of blue paint over it. The visible lettering reads:
X-Zalia
Day & Night Cure for
Catarrh
& Colds in the Head
Prevents Influenza
[...] Simple & Inexpensive](https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/790/153/780/040/410/original/65f8bf132dc973f5.jpg)
You can see more @RoyReed photos from his recent trip to Islington at the top of his ghost signs album on flickr:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/royreed/albums/72157626400559963/
And the book mentioned in the post above is Ghost Signs: A London Story, which Roy and I worked on 2020–21:
Thank you to everyone that contributed to this discussion, which has corrected and deepened our understanding of this ghost sign: Nazalia it is!
I have written this up for the record here on the Ghostsigns blog: https://ghostsigns.co.uk/2024/07/x-doesnt-mark-the-spot-revisiting-an-islington-ghost-sign/
Thanks again @RoyReed @mass_driver @RayNewman @freetobeme @6b6279
@ghostsigns @RoyReed could it be ‘Certain’?
I think I can see the ascending stroke of a /t, and ‘Certain, Simple & Inexpensive’ seems plausible