London By Tube

Published in conjunction with TFL, this is a comprehensive guide to the London Underground, combining a historical overview, illustrations and newly commissioned photography.

Travel under the streets of London with this lavishly illustrated exploration of abandoned, modified, and reused Underground tunnels, stations, and architecture.

A visual exploration of the London Tube network, focusing on our shared and overlooked moments of recognition

Why is the Victoria Line so hot? What is an Electrical Multiple Unit? Is it really possible to ride from King's Cross to King's Cross on the Circle line? The London Underground is the oldest, most sprawling and illogical metropolitan transport system in the world, the result of a series of botch-jobs and improvisations.Yet it transports over one billion passengers every year - and this figure is rising. It is iconic, recognised the world over, and loved and despised by Londoners in equal measure. Blending reportage, humour and personal encounters, Andrew Martin embarks on a wonderfully engaging social history of London's underground railway system (which despite its name, is in fact fifty-five per cent overground). Underground, Overground is a highly enjoyable, witty and informative history of everything you need to know about the Tube.

Since its establishment 150 years ago as the world's first urban subway, the London Underground has continuously set a benchmark for design that many transit systems around the world - from New York to Tokyo to Moscow and beyond - have followed. London Underground by Design is the first meticulous study of every aspect of that feat. Beginning in the pioneering Victorian age, Mark Ovenden charts the evolution of architecture, branding, typeface, map design, interior and textile styles, posters, signage and graphic design and how all these came together to shape not just the identity of the Underground, but the character of London itself. This is the story of some of the most celebrated figures in design history - from Frank Pick, the guru who conceptualised the design of the modern Tube with his idea of 'design fit for purpose', to Harry Beck, the creator of the Tube map, and from Marion Dorn, one of the leading textile designers of the 20th Century, to Edward Johnston, creator of the distinctive font that bears his name. Rich with stunning illustrations, London Underground by Design shows that design is about more than aesthetic pleasure, but is crucial to how we get around.

Nostalgic photographs that capture unexpected moments of intimacy and humor on the Underground Think of the London Underground and what comes to mind? Shuffling human traffic, trains whirring through tunnels, tired silent faces. Mike Goldwater's pictures taken in the '70s and '80s, capture the moments of tenderness and life that lie beneath that: the kisses goodbye, the man cradling a cat, another smoking deep in thought, the homeless man curled up next to his belongings. We also see old ticket booths (before Travelcards existed), retro carriages, whisky adverts and bell flares. These images, full of human interaction, take us back to a time when it was fine to talk (and smoke) on our beloved Underground.

Reforming the London Underground has become a massive political issue. Christian Wolmar examines government policy past and present, and presents a bleak vision of the future effects of the Treasury's ideas for a public/private partnership.

London is a city of surprises and variety, over 600 square miles packed full of character, spectacle and sensation. And to really know London you must look beyond the obvious; there are broad vistas and quiet corners, iconic sights and grand boulevards, historic buildings, quaint villages, verdant parks, cobbled alleyways, museums, monuments, statues, markets, theatres, cathedrals and ancient churches. This book unearths and explores a stupendous range of interesting places, some well known, some less well known, some almost unknown, all of which lie within an easy walk of a Tube station. Taking you to 88 stations and 150 different places of interest, viewpoints, walks, unique museums, historic pubs--if you want a day out and you want to do something different then London is your town, the Tube is your means and See London by Tube is your guide.