The next time you lose your way in the streets
of London and reach for a map, say a little
‘thank you’ to the late, great PhyllisPearsallStreet
‘Phyllis who?’ you might
ask. The publishing companies in
pre-war Britain said just the same
thing when this ambitious young
artist came knocking at their door.smart
Still in her late 20s and living in
a bedsit, Phyllis had drawn up her
own street map to help people mostm ingenious examples of early
navigate the labyrinth that was 20th-century20 information design.
then the capital’s road network. ‘She created the satellite
It was called the A-Z Atlas. navigationn of her day. It’s
Despite countless rejections, remarkable to think what she
disapproval from a male-dominated achieveda in an era when women
society and a near-death plane werw e expected to stay at home
crash, this plucky woman went on and not even work.
to establish the Geographers’ A-Z ‘The original A-Z was
Map Company, which produced revolutionary in lots of ways.
probably the most famous street mapap For its day, it was every bit as
in the entire world. ‘She not only ground-breaking as personal
conceived, designed and produced the A-Z, but satellite navigation is now. And even though many
also founded her own company to publish it,’ says of us have sat nav in our cars, we still rely on the
Donna Loveday, head of exhibitions at the London A-Z to get around London.’
Design Museum. ‘The map remains one of the Phyllis dreamt up the idea of a new map of
London after she became lost trying to find a party
in Belgravia. Her 1919 Ordnance Survey map was
about the best any Londoner could expect back
then. But it was hopelessly out of date, at a time
when the city was expanding in all directions.
Like all struggling artists, Phyllis had little money.
She worked as a portrait painter from her tiny flat
on Horseferry Road, close to Victoria Station.
IT WAS EVERY BIT AS
GROUND-BREAKING AS
PERSONAL SATELLITE
NAVIGATION IS NOW
RAC WORLD
34-36 A-Z RAC8.indd 34 19/2/09 03:51:28
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