Humorous satirical map mocking London's monstruous growth. The city starts as a tiny dot on a map of Britain before rapidly enveloping the entire island. The iconic central image of a manic, swirling urban sprawl is instantly recognisable as London with St. Pauls Cathedral towering over the chaos.

Published in The Graphic, a popular weekly magazine, this map was intended to lampoon the London County Council's (LCC) drive to assume control over areas of outer London, such as East and West Ham, which had traditionally been outside of its jurisdiction.

The LCC, which had only been formed in 1889, had already absorbed the duties of the Metropolitan Board of Works, the London School Board, the Metropolitan Asylums Board, and other formerly-independent civic bodies, and critics feared that it would come to dominate London life.

The accompanying text reads:

And London came & London grew,
And still did London rise,
Till all were scared that all they knewe
Could not check London's size.
At last it rolled it up & shotte
As far afield as space would lette.
And the LCC placed on the spotte,
A tablet marked "Lest we forgette"

Fears of the growth of London eventually led to the creation of the Green Belt in 1938 which limited urban development to the area which now comprises Greater London.