Douglas Adams’ London

The Douglas Adams’ London Map and Guide is a folded literary map-publication written by Yvette Keller and published by Herb Lester Associates as part of their “guides to the unexpected” series - yvettekeller.com

The Guide charts 42 London locations drawn from Douglas Adams’ life and work, treating the city as a walkable storyworld rather than a museum label. It is for people who want to do a gentle pilgrimage through the real streets behind the jokes, the scenes, the habits, and the everyday London that sits underneath the hyperspace jumps - herblester.com

As an object, it sits in the tradition of Literary Maps and pocket field guides: a beautifully designed fold-out map paired with short notes, trivia, and pointers that reward curiosity. It is also a reminder that “a Guide” can be a playful interface: a prompt to explore, to notice, and to connect places to stories, rather than a heavy encyclopaedia - waterstones.com

The publication is explicitly Hitchhiker-compatible in tone while remaining a distinct, real-world artefact: it uses the “42 places” motif, and leans into the pleasure of wandering with a narrative in your pocket. For Hitchhiker Academy, it is a lovely example of how a cultural Guide can be both precise and whimsical, and how a city can be taught through story rather than through lectures.

Herb Lester’s edition describes the folder contents as including a large fold-out map (listed as 400 x 690mm) and print elements, with production notes that emphasise print craft and materials. That physicality matters: it is the opposite of doomscrolling, and the opposite of algorithmic wandering, and it encourages slow attention - herblester.com

There is also an optional companion set of bar mats tied to fictional and in-world hostelries and settings, which extends the Guide into pub culture and casual social play. This is a small but telling design move: it turns “a map” into “an excuse to gather,” which is exactly how living Guides become social rather than merely informational - yvettekeller.com

The map was constructed from edited and curated elements of a larger manuscript by Yvette. The curation of a sale-able map that met Herb Lester & Associates guidelines required published locations to meet the following criteria: <br> - GPS coordinate (versus an "area") <br> - clear and verifiable link to Douglas Adams <br> - inherently interesting and useful to both a local and tourist audience.