A new and revised edition of the folding London Underground map was issued in 1910 to replace the 1908 design. This map is smaller (27 x 22cm) than the 1908 map (36 x 28cm), allowing it to be folded inside even more portable guidebooks. Both the 1908 and 1910 maps use the same green border and ‘UndergrounD’ logo, establishing for the first time a degree of consistent branding, but the two maps have some notable differences.

The most obvious visual difference between the two maps is the complete removal of the underlying road map from this 1910 edition, creating a clean design with the eye focused entirely on the Underground lines. This is not the first Underground map to remove the roads (a Metropolitan Railway map of 1900-05 and D.H. Evans & Co’s 1907 Map of the “Tubes” of London are two earlier examples), but it is the first time it was attempted on an official Underground map. The tiny trifold Underground map of 1910 and a large enamel station sign from the same year (in the London Transport Museum’s collection) also have the street map removed, suggesting a concerted effort by the UERL in that year to simplify the Tube map by hiding the roads.

It is possible that this change was not well received by the public as the next official map to be printed without an underlying road map would be Macdonald Gill’s 1921 design. Fred Stingemore’s trifold maps of the 1920s continued the trend, but the decision to eliminate the roads on Underground maps was only made permanent when Harry Beck’s revolutionary schematic design was adopted in 1933.

While the road map may have been removed, two important features remain to provide context for the user: parks and the River Thames. Continuing the Underground’s marketing shift away from commuter travel towards leisure travel, emphasis is placed on recreational areas and tourist attractions. Parks, football stadiums, and cricket grounds are drawn in green, while landmarks and other important public buildings are in blue. These are numbered from 1-42 with an index on the back of the map explaining each numbered item and helpfully listing which Underground station is most convenient for each destination. Numbers 1-13 indicate London’s mainline railway stations and are marked in black, not blue. The largest circle highlighted on the map is number 14, which represents the Japan-British Exhibition of 1910 at White City. The exhibition ran from May to October, receiving over 8 million visitors, many of whom would have travelled by Underground.

Printed colour. [LDN7111]