The publication of the book was a mini saga in its own right. Following discussions with six specialist, up-market, international publishers over a period of three years, I was getting weary of the same reply: “We love it. The quality of the research and production is just what we look for, but I am afraid it is just not commercially viable.”

By good fortune I met one of the companies heavily involved in modernizing several London Underground stations. They wanted some copies and offered me a substantial amount of money in sponsorship if I decided to publish it myself. I looked at their work and found it to be to a high standard and therefore needed little encouragement and agreed. Discussions were also had with London Underground Ltd; Tim O’Toole (the then Managing Director in 2007) offered further financial assistance and has also kindly written the foreword.

I was therefore indebted to DMC Rail (www.dmccontracts.co.uk), London Underground (www.tfl.gov.uk) and the London Transport Museum (www.ltmuseum.co.uk). Without all of their most generous financial support the book would have had to sell at over double the actual retail price of £50 per copy. In reality, it would probably not have got published at all. My genuine thanks are due to all concerned.

The outer slip case (310x255x60mm or 12x10x2.5 inches) contains the casebound book (on the left) and the inner box of four large-format folded sheets inside (on the right).

Below are two of the double-page station realizations, each accompanied by a potted history of the station, scale plan and exterior building photograph from 1907.

This Edwardian architectural graphic communication puzzle, via extensive use of colour and geometry, also included various display typography.