In the original dustsheet. Black cloth binding with silver title on the spine.

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Mrs P’s Journey is the enchanting story of Phyllis Pearsall. Born Phyllis Isobella Gross, her lifelong nickname was PIG. The daughter of a flamboyant Hungarian Jewish immigrant, and an Irish Italian mother, her bizarre and often traumatic childhood did not restrain her from becoming one of Britain’s most intriguing entrepreneurs and self-made millionaires. After an unsatisfactory marriage, Phyllis, a thirty-year-old divorcee, has to support herself and so becomes a portrait painter. It is while doing this job and trying to find her patron’s houses that Phyllis becomes increasingly frustrated at the lack of proper maps of London. Instead of just cursing the fact as many fellow Londoners probably did, Phyllis decided to do something about it. Without hesitation she covered London’s 23,000 streets on foot during the course of one year, often leaving her Farringdon bedsit at dawn to do so. To publish the map, and in light of its enormous success, she sets up her own company, The Geographer’s Trust, which still publishes the London A-Z and that of every major British city. Mrs P’s Journey is the account of a strong, independent woman who has left behind an enduring legacy.

Reviews:

• Mrs P’s Journey is the true story of how Mrs P, a courageous tenacious lady set about charting and mapping in detail geographical districts of London, giving birth to what we now know as A-Z maps. The biographer based the material for this book on Mrs P’s recorded reminiscences made in her later years. The result is a fascinating compulsive read. Starting with a graphic account of a quite privileged yet at times deprived background. The reader is left in no doubt that this could have been a great advantage but her relationship with her parents is portrayed as cold and distant. As a result she is left on her own at times in straitened circumstances to make her own way in the world. Hence, her determination, tenacity and grit shine through. This is an amazing story achievement in spite of the odds. The way that Mrs P set about charting and recording facts for inclusion on the maps is a comment on the time. In the early 1920’s map writers were exclusively male and no publishing house was prepared to even consider her work. Indeed, the section dealing with her attempts to be taken seriously as a map writer is striking. If it had not been for the outbreak of the Second World War we may never have seen an A-Z map. Early on the War Office became aware that more detailed maps were required and Mrs P came into her own. From this date her work was valued and published. But, unfortunately due to enemy action some of the early maps quickly needed rewriting. Her research into a bomb-damaged Britain is in itself a fascinating glimpse of post-war London. The final chapters focus on the worldwide publication of A-Z maps and the fact that as Mrs P did not own the copyright; it was the publishing house not her that made a lot of money from the publications. Overall this is a great book, which in my opinion could have had a better title. I close with the question ‘who says that women cannot read maps’?

• Very interesting story, one I have been looking out for for a long time. First heard about this author years ago then heard about her again on the radio so I looked on Amazon for her books.

• Well who Knew ???? A must read for those of us that like to know about the lives and people behind our familiar products