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Tube Maps through the ages


KeithMacdonald
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There's a fascinating article in today's Dail Mail online, on the evolution of the Tube Maps. Some are the topographical forms we're familiar with today, but in different formats. Some are more like works of art I've be happy to hang on my wall.

 

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The London Underground in 1934: Rare version of Harry Beck's iconic Tube map printed a year after it first appeared on the network emerges for sale for £20,000

 

  • Poster, printed in 1934, shows draughtsman Harry Beck's colour-coded layout of London underground system
  • Map comes from the deceased estate of the Oxfordshire book seller John Lawson who died aged 87 last year 
  • Most posters were destroyed after they were pasted to station walls so surviving copies are extremely scarce 
  • The early maps featured different lines laid out geographically and superimposed on roadway of a city map
  • Colour-coded design goes on sale tomorrow with auctioneers Dominic Winter in Cirencester, Gloucestershire

 

 

Great pictures in the original article here:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8069145/Rare-version-Harry-Becks-iconic-Tube-map-emerges-sale-20-000.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490

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Ken Garland's lovely book on Mr Beck's Underground Maps, published by Capital Publishing in 1994, is well worth a read, and there have been a couple of books since, one again published by Capital and the other, IIRC, by the LT Museum. It's certainly a fascinating subject.

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IIRC there is a very good book, possibly two, written by my former colleague at LT David Leboff, illustrating the history of maps of the underground in great, and very interesting, detail, published either by LT Museum of Capital, I think. He has written several books about LU stations and their achitecture too - he really know the subject inside-out, being an insider. 

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Somewhere I have the original of an 'Underground Lines' pocket map - Number 1 1943 Issued Free. It was my mother's and must have been very useful, for a 20+ year-old civil service secretary, working in Whitehall in WW2, especially as she had previously lived in Hereford. I have a copy I made in front of me. The original must have been put in a safe place! I expect that it is subject to copyright, but if anyone wants a copy of my copy for personal study - PM me.

In a gazetteer of the UK and Ireland, 1884, there is a New Railway Map showing the railways of what is now central London. As the format is larger than my A4 scanner I have copied it in overlapping sections and it can be seen at 

 

Edited by phil_sutters
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A Google search for 'old tube maps' brings up a few sites including:

https://londonist.com/2016/05/the-history-of-the-tube-map

As said, the evolution of the maps into what has become an iconic look, is a fascinating study of the expansion of London/the Tube and how it was transferred into an easy-to-read format.

Edited by keefer
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On 07/03/2020 at 23:40, phil_sutters said:

Somewhere I have the original of an 'Underground Lines' pocket map - Number 1 1943 Issued Free. It was my mother's and must have been very useful, for a 20+ year-old civil service secretary, working in Whitehall in WW2, especially as she had previously lived in Hereford. I have a copy I made in front of me. The original must have been put in a safe place! I expect that it is subject to copyright, but if anyone wants a copy of my copy for personal study - PM me.

 

 

It was published more than 70 years ago so it is out of copyright (although the source still has to be acknowledged).

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Just had a nice reply from the London Transport Museum.
 

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Hi Keith,


Thank you for contacting us with your request. This is something which we do stock in store in Covent Garden and we are working to make this available online as a PTO print. At this time I do not have a definitive date for when this will be available, but if you contact us again in the next couple of weeks I may be able to provide you with a more accurate time frame.


Kind Regards,

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

eCommerce Assistant | London Transport Museum

 

 

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