Dimensions
129 x 198 x 1mm
Disproving the theory that women can't read maps, 'Mrs P's Journey' is the fascinating story of Phyllis Pearsall, the woman who mapped London's A-Z and created a publishing phenomenon.
Spirited, artistic and eccentric, thirty-year-old Phyllis walked out on a loveless marriage in Venice and returned to London. To support herself, she became a portrait painter and, in trying to find her patrons' houses, became increasingly frustrated at the lack of proper maps of London.
Phyllis' reaction was completely characteristic and she threw herself into attempting to map the busy, sprawling metropolis. Without hesitation she covered London's 23,000 streets on foot during the course of one year, often leaving her bedsit at dawn to do so. In light of its enormous success, she set up the Geographers' Map Company, which still publishes the A-Z of London and most major British cities.
Sarah Hartley has written a beautifully moving account of an inspirational woman who carved a niche for herself in what was traditionally a man's world and who left behind an enduring legacy.