A Typeface for the Underground takes an in-depth look at the history of the Johnston typeface used by Transport for London. You might also be interested in Ken Garland’s book, Mr Beck’s Underground map, detailing the history of a design icon.
The World Digital Library provides a significant number “primary materials” free of charge to the general public. This includes maps, manuscripts and other ephemera to promote intercultural understanding.
London: A Life in Maps. A great collection from the British Library, I had the chance to see them in person while I was there last year.
Europa Polyglotta, a cool map from 1730, indicating the languages spoken in Europe and full of typographic goodness.
Cutting edge maps, very cool cutouts
Motorway map of England, in the style of Harry Beck’s London Underground map.
Map Cover: large | flickr
Map Front: small | large | flickr
Picked this map up a few months ago at a used bookstore, but kept forgetting to actually scan the thing. It’s pretty funky, with a weird perspective that you don’t usually see these days. The map has no date, but sometime around 1950 would be a decent estimate.
There’s a transit map on the back, but it needs some more work before it gets posted. We’ll save that project for a rainy day, I’ve already put far too much effort into stitching this one together.
Update
Recent comments also indicate that the map is likely from around the time of the 1939 World’s Fair. I’ve also added a copy of the transportation map on the back. Had scanned it in but forgot to stitch the images together.
Map Back: small | large | flickr
