general

The title of this intriguing chunky photo book has a word missing, it should have been '1000 ROAD SIGNS'. Actually probably about 940 official highway signs and the rest being privately made but still relating to roads. The three-language text for the twelve chapters (Animals, Man, Stop, Dog, Transport, Children, Miscellaneous, Danger, Weapons, Toilets, No! and Work) is on single pages and mixed into the relevant photo sections. Considering that the subject matter is rather uninspiring, visually this book looks rather good, photos are twelve, six, four or one to a page and there are plenty of spreads with one photo.

There are some pretty weird signs, too. One from South Africa has an explanation mark in a triangle with three words below, 'CAUTION ROAD STOLEN', Australia has a no swearing sign, a red outline circle with a red diagonal across the body of a man, by his head there are five marks, *!#"?.

I'm not quite sure who this book is aimed at, highway engineers and transport planners, graphic designers, or readers who go for quirky books (me) but as it was produced in conjunction with Colors Magazine (Taschen published their '1000 Extraordinary Objects ISBN 382285851X) you can be assured of something a bit different to leave on your coffee table.