London Transport Railways Map 1948 30x40 print

This 1948 edition of the Underground map designed by Harry Beck features a beautiful border of roundels. Harry Beck is best known as the designer of the London Underground diagrammatic map. He worked as a draughtsman for London Transport and submitted a new design to illustrate the Underground system in 1931. At first it was rejected, but he resubmitted with minor revisions a year later. In 1933 Frank Pick gave the design a trial printing. The map simplified the layout of the lines enlarging the central area in relation to the outlying districts and using only vertical, horizontal and 45 degree diagonal lines. Interchange stations were also highlighted. The diagrammatic representation proved to be popular and easily understood by travellers on the Underground and is used to this day.