World Metro Map

To mark the paperback & US edition of his great book Transit Maps of the World (formerly called Metro Maps of the World) Mark Ovenden has a special offer for the first 50 people who buy a new copy of the book through amazon (.co.uk or .com) - a signed copy of the World Metro Map promotional poster for the book.


To qualify for the signed poster simply email a copy of your amazon sales confirmation to poster@markovenden.com and remember to give your postal address.

The poster which is the opening page of Mark's book about the graphic design of worldwide subway, metro, underground and U-Bahn system maps and diagrams. He calls it a "playful diagram" showing "all the cities which have, are building or are planning to construct an urban rail system.".

Thanks to Jon Allen for reminding me about the map and also to Mark for giving me a sneak preview of the map last year!

The New York Times gave the following review of Transit Maps of the World earlier this week as one of their top Xmas books:

"While navigating this jampacked book can be a tad confusing, the overall effect is more than impressive. Ovenden does what no other design history book has ever done: he visually chronicles the evolution of the New York subway (plus other major subways including the Tube) - the world's largest - from its 1905 map, with only a few train lines, to the intricate 1948 version, which is barely legible, to the much-criticized 1972 Massimo Vignelli diagram map, which evolved into the current version. For this alone, 'Transit Maps of the World' is a must-have."

Mark's also let us in on a little secret in that there's a tiny spelling mistake on one of the cities on the world map above. I'm sure someone here will spot it, although no prizes for finding the correct, or rather incorrect one.