Literary London
Literary London is a collection of art celebrating the capital’s rich literary heritage. Bringing to life the army of fictional characters who were born here. From the dreamers and dandies to the eerily eccentric and downright dangerous. Not just the living, but also the walking dead. All the winged and many-legged creatures who’ve been immortalised in the pages of novels. And who continue to inhabit and delight imaginations the world over. The larger than life personalities conceived by an equally eclectic horde of authors obsessed with London’s every nook and cranny, its bawdy taverns and refined townhouses, as well as the cities notorious underbelly, its clinks and courts of law.
The Literary London Map
A map of the capital featuring characters from the pages of novels based in London. 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 at Her Majesty’s Pleasure).
A Study In Sherlock
This next one is a smaller version of the London Film Map, swarming with film titles, actors and directors, plotted on the map where they most made their mark. Also featuring some of London’s most iconic picture houses, film studios and red carpet locations.
Storylines
London’s iconic tube map, transformed into a pit-stop journey through styles of storytelling, with the individual tube lines turned into storylines and genres of literature. The depths of the Northern Line have been made into the aptly named Horror Line. The Bakerloo Line coursing past Sherlock Holmes’s Baker Street becomes the Crime & Mystery Line. The pink trajectory of the Hammersmith & City is converted to the Romance Line. Stations falling on intersecting Storylines get a sub-genre cross over.
Twenty Bridges
‘Twenty bridges from Tower to Kew –
Wanted to know what the River knew,
Twenty Bridges or twenty-two,
For they were young, and the Thames was old
And this is the tale that River told.’
Another piece in the Literary London Art Print Collection, hand-crafted typographic art featuring the opening lines to ‘The River’s Tale’ by Rudyard Kipling in the shape of the river Thames, with all the relevant bridges plotted in position.
Samuel Says
Dr Johnson. Six-foot tall, poor, somewhat disfigured and potentially suffering from Tourettes…. Samuel Johnson overcame some crazy obstacles to become a sensation as a man of wit and wisdom. His master opus was creating the great English Dictionary, but this man of letters was notorious for firing the kind of pithy one-liners most satirists would give their acid tongue for. This piece, featuring one of his most famous quotes, has been crafted in the style of those early editions of the Dictionary. Londoners are passionate about their city, and Samuel was no different.
Pubs Of Literary London
A guide to the pubs where all the fictional characters we know and love frequented. Also the clubs that the authors were members of, where they wined and dined and gambled the night away. The smoking holes, the opium parlours, from high to low, the classy to the dens of iniquity. All of the places the notorious characters used to gather to plot, scheme and make merry.
Also the Paparazzi’s favourite stake outs; the places celebrities tumble out of. The actors and narrators who bring the stories to life.
Literary Central London Map
Over the years I have created Limited Edition runs of screenprints in different colours and sizes.
This next one is a compact central London version of the more extensive Literary London Map, made up of hand-crafted fictional characters plotted on the map in the place they’re most associated.
