Saturday, Mar. 26, 2011 10:48 a.m.
London A-Z was founded by a female painter and writer Phyllis Pearsall. When she was young she got lost on the way to a party (or to a patron's office) because the ordinance survey map she got was not good enough, and she decided to create her own London map by walking every street every day. The A-Z maps became popular when she sold them in WH Smith, and she was involved with her atlas company until she died in 1996. Wikipedia mentioned that she had once met Vladimir Nabokov in Paris, but I can't see any more info on that encounter. I wonder. Another interesting thing about the A-Z is that they deliberately include a 'trap street' on the map. The trap street is a non-existent street that is included to protect the copyright. There are some really interesting topics relevant to the trap street. Check them out!
Phantom settlements
Trap street
Argleton |