1934 The New Pictorial Map of London
DESCRIPTION
An irresistible guide to London between the wars, this lively pictorial map invites visitors to wander through a city of theatres, cinemas, museums, royal palaces, bustling streets, famous shops, parks, pubs, and historic landmarks.
A Visitor's Guide to London
Published by Geographia Limited at 55 Fleet Street, London, circa 1934, The New Pictorial Map of London transforms the British capital into an entertaining illustrated panorama rather than a conventional street plan. Major streets snake across the city between instantly recognizable landmarks including Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, the Tower of London, British Museum, Albert Hall, and King's Cross and St. Pancras stations. Hyde Park and the city's other green spaces provide welcome breaks in a landscape crowded with buildings, buses, pedestrians, shops, monuments, and humorous observations of London life.
The map was clearly designed with the visitor in mind. London's Underground stations are prominently marked, while inset maps at the upper corners locate the city's theatres and cinemas, reflecting the importance of the West End and motion pictures to London entertainment during the 1930s. Small captions point travelers toward everything from the changing of the guard and Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens to Fleet Street, Covent Garden, Petticoat Lane, Soho, and the shops of Oxford Street. The Thames cuts dramatically across the lower half of the city, crossed by its famous bridges and populated by boats and river traffic.
London Before the Second World War
Beyond its charm as a tourist map, the sheet provides a wonderful snapshot of London in the years immediately before the Second World War. Geographia combines centuries of monuments and royal history with the modern city of Underground travel, cinemas, department stores, railway terminals, and busy commercial districts. The playful illustrations and bold Art Deco influenced coloring make the map as much a souvenir of 1930s London as a practical guide, capturing the city tourists encountered only a few years before war dramatically altered its appearance and daily life.
CONDITION
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