.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Beck was an electrical draughtsman and produced his wonderfully simple map based on a circuit diagram. By eliminating any geography, and the adoption of strict verticals, horizontals and diagonals, Beck's great innovation was to dramatically distort the central London area to allow for easy interpretation, while condensing the outer suburban areas to give the sense of easy commutability. Beck's first draft was initially rejected by the Underground Group, but by 1932 this proof had been printed. It is annotated and corrected by Beck himself as well as by his predecessor, Fred Stingemore, and must be one of the final drafts of Beck's map prior to its public release in January 1933 and directly correlates to the first card holder edition (K. Garland, 1994, p.18). The collaborative annotations by Beck and Stingemore, with the lower case annotations attributed to the latter, include adding back in the missing Metropolitan Line branch to Watford, suggesting a change of colour for the names of Waterloo and South Kensington stations, removing the Piccadilly line service from South Ealing station, and querying name of 'Willesden Junction (New Station)'; The diamond for New Cross station is noted as being printed ‘too small’.
Stingemore's previous maps of the Underground, rooted in standard topography, had employed circles for interchanges and dots for non-interchange stations. This Beck proof uses diamonds rather than circles for interchanges, although dots are retained. The Piccadilly Line on Stingemore’s maps could appear in varying shades of blue, but on this proof it appears in light blue, with the same colour deployed for the stylised River Thames and the border.
The first edition of Beck’s map in 1933 changed the colour of the Piccadilly Line to dark blue, and the standard stations became 'ticks' rather than ‘dots’. These are both standard on today’s versions of the Underground map, although the interchanges have now reverted to circles. The colour changes suggested on the proof for ‘Waterloo’ and ‘South Kensington’ were not implemented in the first edition, although South Ealing did lose its Piccadilly Line station, and the Watford Branch was reinstated. The placement of several station names changed between this proof and the finished edition (e.g. Baker Street, Bishops Road, Great Portland St., Highgate, Oxford Circus, Wembley Park, and Wood Lane), while the note about the Piccadilly Line extension towards Cockfosters shows that only the portion from Enfield West to Cockfosters is yet to open. The first edition was published on 1 January 1933, and was taken up with enthusiasm, with an order of 750,000 copies of the pocket-sized card folder edition.
Only a handful of Harry Beck manuscripts survive, most of which are in the collection of the London Transport Museum, to whom they were donated by Ken Garland, Harry Beck’s biographer and close friend, in 2013.
Stingemore's previous maps of the Underground, rooted in standard topography, had employed circles for interchanges and dots for non-interchange stations. This Beck proof uses diamonds rather than circles for interchanges, although dots are retained. The Piccadilly Line on Stingemore’s maps could appear in varying shades of blue, but on this proof it appears in light blue, with the same colour deployed for the stylised River Thames and the border.
The first edition of Beck’s map in 1933 changed the colour of the Piccadilly Line to dark blue, and the standard stations became 'ticks' rather than ‘dots’. These are both standard on today’s versions of the Underground map, although the interchanges have now reverted to circles. The colour changes suggested on the proof for ‘Waterloo’ and ‘South Kensington’ were not implemented in the first edition, although South Ealing did lose its Piccadilly Line station, and the Watford Branch was reinstated. The placement of several station names changed between this proof and the finished edition (e.g. Baker Street, Bishops Road, Great Portland St., Highgate, Oxford Circus, Wembley Park, and Wood Lane), while the note about the Piccadilly Line extension towards Cockfosters shows that only the portion from Enfield West to Cockfosters is yet to open. The first edition was published on 1 January 1933, and was taken up with enthusiasm, with an order of 750,000 copies of the pocket-sized card folder edition.
Only a handful of Harry Beck manuscripts survive, most of which are in the collection of the London Transport Museum, to whom they were donated by Ken Garland, Harry Beck’s biographer and close friend, in 2013.