Letters On America

LETTERS ON AMERICA

Photographs by Ed Fella, text by Lorraine Wild; Princeton Architectural Press, New York City [phone]; $50

Designer Ed Fela's expansive collection of Polaroids of "found" American lettering, taken by Fella between 1987 and 1999, have been edited and reproduced in book form in Letters on America. The collection-featuring more than 1,000 images-forms what seems to be a forensic trait of evidence for the recent history of Americana, illustrating the wealth of cultural insight that can be uncovered by focusing a lens on the uncelebrated work of commercial sign painters, stone carvers, graffiti artists and the like.