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Mr Beck's Underground Map
by Ken Garland
1994, Capital Transport Press, published in association with the London
Transport Museum.
 
Some of you may be as interested as I was in this new book (well, 1994)
about the London Underground diagram, currently known as the Journey
Planner.
 
Harry Beck's 1932 diagram is revered among cartographers and graphic
designers.  This book tells the story of how it came to be designed, what
preceded it, how the Diagram evolved, the various outside pressures the
designer responded to, and the somewhat sad story of how Beck lost control
of the Diagram--or perhaps it would be better to say that it became
independent of him.
 
The 80-page hardcover book is handsome, containing dozens of full-color
reproductions of the maps, as well as reproductions of Beck's sketches for
alternative schemes.  The author is Ken Garland, apparently a London
graphic designer (no author biography appears) who was a student of Beck's.
The author's intimacy with the Diagram is evident in the notes he makes
about evolutionary changes, proposed alternatives, and details of
symbolization.
 
I recommend this book to anyone interested in maps, or design, and
especially the design of maps.  The publisher is Capital Transport, and I
believe it can be purchased from the London Transport museum shop at Covent
Garden, London.  For those of us a bit further away, it is available by
mail order from Dr Ian Frew, Electric Railway Society, 17 Catherine Drive,
Sutton, Coldfield, B73 6AX, England.
 
The cost is 10 pounds 95 in sterling.  Alas, the society cannot accept
credit cards, so checks must be in sterling drawn on a British bank (such
services are available in most large cities).  However, Dr Frew travels
frequently to the US and belongs to various US organizations, so he is
happy to accept payment in US cash (Canadian as well, I presume).  The cost
including surface mailing is therefore $17 US or $20 Canadian, sent in cash
to him at the above address.
 
Presumably the London Transport Museum also can handle mail orders, and are
likely to accept credit cards as well.  Write them at Transport Museum
Shop, Covent Garden, London WC2.  Perhaps a UK reader can supply a telefax
number for the shop.
 
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Dennis McClendon, Chicago CartoGraphics      [log in to unmask]