Geographia Ltd
Geographia Ltd, 60 Fleet Street, London EC4, published a series of street atlases of London, which sometimes included maps of the London Underground.
circa 1940 (a)
"The War Time A1 Atlas and Guide to London and Outer Suburbs".
This is a 65-page limp-bound booklet, size 4 x 6.75 inches (cover shown on the left). It comprises 35 pages of black-and-white street plans, followed by a street index. On the inside front cover is a map of the underground, in the style of Beck (shown below).
For a higher-resolution scan, click here.
Dating:
- The map shows the Bakerloo extension north of Baker Street station (which opened on 20th November 1939). Marlborough Road is omitted from the Metropolitan line (which closed on 19th November 1939).
- Swiss Cottage is still open on the Metropolitan line (which closed on 17th August 1940).
- Hence we can date the underground map as approximately 1940, and the published item as approximately 1971.
What is of particular interest is that mainline interchange stations are shown by circles with a central dot (whereas underground-to-underground interchanges are shown by open circles). This was a graphical device that was introduced into the official LU pocket maps by Paul Garbutt in 1964. It is therefore significant that this device was in use in 1940.
The map is in Beck's style but does not bear Beck' name. We might therefore wonder whether Beck was involved in this version of the map. At this particular time (1939 to 1941), Hans Schlege had control of the design of the pocket map, so it would be especially curious if Beck were secretly working on a pocket-sized map.
If we look carefully at the Bakerloo line extension, we will see that the line is clumsily executed and is not drawn as Beck himself later did. The following is a detail from the 1943 pocket map, which is the first post-Schleger pocket map in which Beck returned to his standard style:
Therefore, I would conclude that a draughtsman working for Geographia updated Beck's 1938 map with the new Bakerloo line, rather than using the inferior Schleger map.
circa 1940 (b)
"The New Pictorial Map of London".
This is a large, single-sheet pictorial street map of London, folded to 4 x 6 inches, in a limp cover (shown on the left). On the back cover is a map of the underground, in the style of Beck (shown below).
For a higher-resolution scan, click here.
The map seems to be indentical to the design used on the A1 Atlas.