Tuesday, December 27, 2016

London in many books

For family history research I have been looking at books with references to London, particularly in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries and discovered a selection of books on the history of London in the local public library. Some titles were more relevant to my research than others but it was interesting to see the range of material available.

London in the Eighteenth Century: a great and monstrous thing by Jerry White published by The Bodley Head in 2012. This book looks at the growth of London during the eighteenth century with the first section looking at architectural advancement during that period. There are also sections on People, Work, Culture and Power including a section on prisons and punishment. There are several sets of illustrations inserted throughout the book, detailed notes, a large bibliography and index. This is a useful social history of eighteenth century England providing useful background information for those researching the city in which some of our convict ancestors lived.

The following two books that are good to  browse through.
London: the illustrated history by Cathy Ross and John Clark was first published by Penguin Books in 2008.  This history of the city discusses London through the ages illustrated with maps plus  photos of items from the Museum of London collection. There is a useful section of further reading plus an index.

Another book using the Museum of London collection is London: the story of a great city by Jerry White.The second edition of this book was published by Andre Deutsch in 2014. In this book the history of the city is shown by topic rather than chronologically. Some of the topics include London's River, Making Money, A City of Shopkeepers, Meat and Drink, Faiths of London plus Police, Prisons and Punishment.The book is lavishly illustrated and has an index plus a small section of further reading.

The City of London by Brian Girling, published by The History Press initially in 1998 and again in 2009. It is part of Briain in Old Photographs series. Most of the photographs used to illustrate the book were taken in the early 1900s and were often from postcards. Topics in the book include Around Fleet Street, the River Thames, City Life, St Paul's Cathedral and Churches, City Celebrations and City Transport. Many of the photos show buildings built at the end of the eighteenth century and nineteenth century.

Lost London by Richard Guard is a guide to some of the lost buildings and landmarks in the city.It was published by Michael O'Mara Books in 2012. The main landmarks discussed are arranged alphabetically and the index also allows the reader to locate further information if they are mentioned in other articles.

Lindsey German and John Rees have written A People's History of London published by Verso in 2012. The book investigates how the power of ordinary people through strikes, rebellions and demonstrations has shaped the history of the city through the ages. The book has a bibliography and index.

London: a social and cultural history, 1550 - 1750 by Robert Bucholz and Joseph P Ward was published by Cambridge University Press in 2012. It is a study of the development of London as a city during two hundred years. There are plates with illustrations throughout the book as well as detailed notes, a bibliography and index.

The third edition of The London Encyclopaedia was published in 2008. The 6000 alphabetically arranged articles cover all aspects of the history and life of the city. The authors are Ben Weinreb, Christopher Hibbert, Julia Keay and John Keay. This is a good reference book for information about the city. At the end of the book is an index to people mentioned in the volume.

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