Official folding lithographic map of London Underground routes, printed in colours. “Issued Free” to visitors to the British Empire Exhibition held at Wembley Park, Wembley (23rd April 1924 to 31st October 1925).

With key, and extensive tourist information to verso, including a West End ‘Theatre Plan’. Full sheet 370 x 455mm, 14½ x 18 ins.

Designed to be carried in the pocket in all conditions, the Underground maps from this period rarely survive in such good condition. Showing the tube lines superimposed geographically over a simplified road map, it was not until 1933 that Harry Beck’s ‘electrical circuit’ design - still the basis of today’s diagrammatic maps - dispensed with conventions of scale, accurate bearing and all surface landmarks.