UK Edition
Lose yourself in this beautiful literary map of London
This stunning map of London is made up of the names of characters from novels, plotted on to the areas of the city they're most associated with.
It was created by Dex, a London-based artist and graphic designer, and interior designer Anna Burles. They describe it as "an intricate type map of the capital teeming with infamous fictional characters from London’s literary past and present.
"Featuring the famous and infamous. And also the less well known. Those with an amazing moniker or brilliantly conceived nickname who are a credit to their creator.
"Each character has been plotted in the corners of the city they most liked to roam or chose to call home (sometimes on Her Majesty’s Pleasure)."
Among the featured characters are Sherlock Holmes, whose name looms large around Baker Street, along with Mrs Dalloway in Mayfair, Dorian Gray in Limehouse, a healthy scattering of Dickens characters and many, many more.
The idea for the map arose when Anna and Dex were working on a collection of artwork with the theme of Literary London. "A map of the capital created by names of the literary figures in the places they reside (or were most famously associated), in my hand-crafted typographic style, was one of the first ideas we had," said Dex.
"Weeks of research went into finding the characters. Lots of novels have been set in central London so we could pick and choose and editorialise our selection.
"But when you get out to West Ham or Lewisham they get harder to find. And we want them to have really cool and interesting names, Crêpe Suzette or Ebenezer Scrooge (thank God for all the wonderful characters Charles Dickens created!)"
First unveiled in 2012, a new edition of the map was launched this month, and it's available to buy online here.