Following up on our recent item on schematic expert Maxwell J. Roberts new take on mapping the London Underground, we couldn’t not report on a new exhibition at The Map House in London, opening next month, October, titled “Mapping the Underground“.
“Mapping the Tube: 1863-2023“, running 25th October – 30th November explores the evolution of London’s Tube system and the iconic London Underground map over 160 years. The exhibition offers a rare opportunity to see and purchase hand-drawn and annotated manuscripts by Harry Beck on the 50th anniversary of his death. His 1933 pocket map influenced the design of transport maps worldwide, and is an instantly recognisable design icon.
The exhibition will include the most significant collection of Beck manuscripts ever offered for sale, some gifted by Beck to his friend and biographer Ken Garland. Highlights include: a one-of-a-kind draft copy of Harry Beck’s first Underground map, annotated by Beck and his predecessor Fred Stingemore, which highlights some of the tricky design questions he had to overcome, such as whether to use the official name of ‘Willesden Green (New Station)’ or stick with a simplified ‘Willesden Junction’; the resulting exceedingly rare 1st Edition Underground Poster (1933), of which only five copies of the original 2000 are known; and a unique, unfinished sketch from 1950 drawn in coloured pencil, showing a proposed new layout for the District Line branch to Richmond.
The Arrival of the Tube
The Metropolitan Railway opened the world’s first underground passenger railway in London in January 1863 to create a route for the developing commuting population. By the end of 1863, several of London’s leading cartographers, sensing a commercial opportunity, published detailed folding maps illustrating the railway proposals before the House of Lords Select Committee. On display will be James Wyld’s New Map of London (1863), signalling the advent of the London Underground network, alongside The Improved District Railway Map of London (1880), one of the earliest Underground maps issued to the public.
In the early 20th century, the London Underground was unpopular and losing money, due to complaints of overcrowding, uncleanliness, and tardiness. Frank Pick, the Underground’s Publicity Manager, commissioned great artists of the day to create works that encouraged Londoners to associate the Underground with access to leisure activities.
Examples featured in the exhibition include To the Theatres (1934), a striking poster advertising travel to the West End by Cecil Walter Bacon, and the Wonderground Map of London (1914) by Macdonald Gill, a whimsical caricature map of London, so popular with the public that it is often credited with saving the Underground from bankruptcy. The Wonderground Map that will be exhibited at The Map House is the larger, rarer edition created to hang in stations rather than to be purchased as a souvenir.
Harry Beck and London’s iconic Tube map
“Mapping the Tube” will also explore the extraordinary life and work of Harry Beck, the designer of the 1933 London Underground map, voted the second-best British design of the 20th century, for which he was paid just £5 and five shillings. Beck, a trained engineer, conceived the design whilst drawing an electrical circuit diagram, revolutionising the way transport maps were designed by not placing the stations geographically as previous maps had. He believed that Underground passengers were not concerned with geographical accuracy but were more interested in how to get from one station to another and where to change trains. Beck’s clear, accessible and aesthetic design was so successful that it became the template for transport maps worldwide, such as the Sydney Suburban and City Underground Railway Map (1939), which directly copied the London Underground’s branding.
Despite the map’s overwhelming success, Beck’s contribution was largely forgotten until 2001, 27 years after his death, when the following acknowledgement was added to the map: “This diagram is an evolution of the original design conceived in 1931 by Harry Beck”. You can still read this in the bottom left corner of all London Tube maps today. Visitors to the exhibition can see an example of the Tube Map from every year from 1933 to 2023, charting its complete evolution from Beck’s globally influential and groundbreaking work.
Such is the fascination with Beck’s work, a new play, “The Truth About Harry Beck” opened at the Cubic Theatre at London Transport Museum earlier this month, running until 10th November. The Natural Theatre Company take you on a whimsical whirlwind of fact through the worlds of design, transport, modern history…and an addiction to getting it right.
As we previously reported, schematic expert Maxwell J. Roberts has designed a “London Circles” map to show the current London Underground network and associated lines, and it’s even better than ever before, and more geographically accurate than the official standard TfL journey planner. The mapping of the Tubes goes on!
Exhibition Curator at The Map House, Charles Roberts says: “The survival of many of the materials we have on display is remarkable. These maps were largely distributed for free as a tool for the public. They were not intended to be saved but here they are, providing us with a unique insight into London’s history. The Harry Beck manuscripts we are offering present a unique opportunity to look over his shoulder and see the great designer at work.”
Alfred Sifton and Francis Praed founded The Map House in 1907 as a book and map publisher and seller, originally based at 67 St James’s Street in London. The Map House soon became a familiar landmark in its own right and was one of the fixtures that trainee taxi drivers had to know if they were to pass ‘The Knowledge’. Daphne du Maurier even included The Map House as the setting for a crucial plot twist in her collection The Birds & Other Stories.
Throughout its history, the Map House has supplied maps to travellers, adventurers and explorers such as Ernest Shackleton. In 1920 they received a Royal Warrant from the Prince of Wales for supplying maps of the Western Front during the Great War and subsequently became a licensed distributor of maps from the War Office during World War Two.
In the early 1970s The Map House ceased to publish or print any more maps and books and continued its transformation into one of the first dedicated antiquarian map shops. After nearly seventy years in St James’s, The Map House moved to its present position at 54 Beauchamp Place in Knightsbridge in 1973. It is now home to the finest and most comprehensive selection of original antique and vintage maps, globes and atlases offered for sale anywhere in the world and has recently revived its publishing heritage by once again publishing books on maps, War Map and The Mapping of Antarctica.
• Mapping the Tube: 1863-2023 runs from 25th October – 30th November 2024 at Map House, The Map House, 54 Beauchamp Place, Knightsbridge, London, SW3 1NY | Opening Hours: Monday – Friday, 10.30am – 6.00pm / Saturday, 10.30am – 5.00pm Web: themaphouse.com
• Going downthetubes with a new London Underground map, by Maxwell J. Roberts!
Yes, we know it’s not comics – but it is art – and how could we not cover this, with our site name?
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The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
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