The early issue of the famous ‘Wonderground’ map of London

A caricature map of central London, west to Hammersmith, north to Camden Town, east to St Katherine's Dock and south to Clapham, which draws its inspiration from Lewis Carroll's 'Alice in Wonderland'. It shows London filled with elevations of underground stations and other important buildings, bizarre vignettes and esoteric references and puns. For example: the Serpentine River hosts a Chinese dragon; a man hangs from Tyburn Tree; and next to Regent's Park Zoo are three verses of William Blake's 'The Tyger'. An armorial depicting a tunnel, surmounted with a white rabbit, with a Latin motto translating as 'Enter or exit with little delay', strengthens the Wonderland comparison. Leslie MacDonald Gill (1884-1947), younger brother of Eric Gill, specialised in graphic design in the Arts and Crafts style. In 1914 he was commissioned to create this map when the 'London's Underground' advertising campaign (run jointly by the companies that ran the different lines) failed to make much impression with the public. The striking colours and wit of this poster reversed the campaign's fortunes, so it is often cited as 'the map that saved the Underground'. Two further editions, with the map reduced in size, were published in 1924 and 1928. Gill's most important commission was from the Imperial War Graves Commission, designing the script used on Commission headstones and war memorials, including the 'Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme'.