County of London (Children’s Map of London).

Description

A charming and colorful work, perfect for any Anglophile, this c. 1939 pictorial, folding “children’s map” of London was drawn by L. G. Bullock for John Bartholomew and Sons.

Displaying the central part of the city, a range of government offices, royal palaces, rail stations, parks, museums, hospitals, educational institutions, and other famous sites are illustrated and labeled. Major streets and bridges are also noted. Quotes from famous works about different parts of London are included near the relevant locale. The borders of the map are filled with mythological figures and references to nursery rhymes, including Gog and Magog (statues of which sit in Guildhall), Old King Cole, Jack and Jill, Little Bo-Peep, Cinderella, Humpty Dumpty, and more. Crests relating to the city, the monarchy, and the constituent parts of the United Kingdom are also drawn.

This map was drawn by Leslie George Bullock, part of a series of pictorial maps by him, including historical maps of Scotland, Ireland, and England and Wales. The date is difficult to establish since the buildings labeled had all been built by the 1930s and since there were multiple issues of the map from the late 1930s onwards. However, the use of the term “London Passenger Transport Board” for the offices of that organization in Westminster suggests a date between 1933 and 1948. At the same time, the acknowledgement to Mrs. Kipling at bottom-left suggests that the map was published after the death of her husband, in 1936.