Herb Lester Associates – Illustrated City Maps & Guides.

by Amy@AQ-V on July 14, 2011

I really admire this keen project brought to us by Herb Lester Associates in the UK. Above and below you will find a sample of their excellent illustrated city maps and guides. These printed guides can reveal fresh and useful destinations amongst even your very own familiar cityscape such as the best places to meet and work in London; all the while offering up great information for those traveling to a city for the very first time. Let these maps serve as your miniature sourcebook to the usual and unusual. Currently, maps and guides are available in their shop for London, Paris, New York City and Glasgow with more cities on the horizon.

HLA researches, writes, prints and distributes their maps and guides while collaborating with many wonderful illustrators and designers from around the globe including to date Telegramme, Studio Booth, Michael Newhouse, Peder Bernhardt, Jim Datz, Lord Dunsby, Deanna Halsall and most recently Brent Couchman. They express they are always eager to find new people to work with on future projects.

[ All work & images © ]

Wish You Were There: London, 1960-66 (interior) / shop
Designed by Peder Bernhardt

(Guide) includes 130 of the best clubs, shops, boutiques, coffee bars and other diversions of the swinging city during this exciting period, ranging from the near mythical Scene club in Ham Yard to largely forgotten menswear chain, Smart Weston, each with a street address and a brief description. (read more…)

Where the Sidewalk Ends… How to Find Old New York / shop
Designed & illustrated by Jim Datz

This is a guide to the New York you’ve always wanted to see but feared might have disappeared for good. It depicts a city of Edward Hopper diners and down-at-heel dive bars, overstocked grocery stores and mountainous pastrami sandwiches. (read more…)

An East London Companion / shop
Illustrated by Telegramme, design by Studio Booth

The map features a Brazilian butcher on Mare Street and a Mexican food and supplies warehouse off Hackney Road; a candle shop and paper bag supplier, pubs, cafés, and even some galleries. The 99 entries represent the very best east London has to offer. (read more…)

It’s Nice to Be Alone in Paris / shop
Illustrated by Lord Dunsby

In this map we select 32 things to do in the city of light, none of which involve sharing a bottle of wine, eating bread and cheese on the banks of the Seine, or wandering arm in arm with your loved one. In fact, loved ones do not figure at all, this is a guide for the solo traveler and our suggestions are all best enjoyed on your own—although incurable romantics may wish to bring their partners too, we won’t kick up a fuss. (read more…)

An Uncle’s Guide to London / shop
Illustrated by Deanna Halsall

In this guide we have hand-picked 29 places which should be diverting to young and old. There’s bowling, boating, aeroplanes, swimming, dinosaurs, trench warfare and chickens. We cannot guarantee a good time will be had by all, but we are quietly confident. (read more…)

May We Help You?: The Best Specialist Suppliers in London / shop
Illustrated by Michael Newhouse

Should you require power tools in the midnight hour or a butler at short notice, help is at hand. Our neat, pocket-sized map lists London’s most useful suppliers: sources for products and services ranging from rubber tubing to 18th-century lamps, Super 8 film to covered buttons, leather repairs to bookbinding. (read more…)

A Glasgow Companion / shop
Designed & illustrated by Brent Couchman

The 50 entries show just some of what Glasgow has to offer, glorious parks, beautiful architecture, great food and drink, and a notably charming and friendly populace. Among the highlights: unchanged 1960s pub, The Doublet, Glasgow Architectural Salvage Yard, art deco restaurant and oyster bar, Rogano, and the excellent record shop, Monorail. (read more…)

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