London

A fascinating illustrated six-volume account, published 1841–4, of what was then the greatest city in the world.

Charles Knight (Author)

9781108073967, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 8 May 2014

426 pages, 103 b/w illus.
25.4 x 17.8 x 2.2 cm, 0.74 kg

The publisher and writer Charles Knight (1791–1873) was apprenticed to his printer father, but later became a journalist and then proprietor of various periodicals and magazines, many of which were driven by his concern for the education of the poor. As an author, he published a variety of works, including The Old Printer and the Modern Press (also reissued in this series). He claimed that this six-volume work on the architecture and history of London, published between 1841 and 1844, was neither a history nor a survey of London, but looked 'at the Present through the Past, and at the Past through the Present'. It relies on the skills of eminent artists to bring both the present and the past of London to life, and is arranged thematically rather than chronologically or geographically. This is a fascinating account of what was then the greatest city in the world.

51. Bermondsey
52. Modern Bermondsey
53. The Mint
54. The Thames Tunnel
55. The docks
56. Westminster Bridge
57. Strawberry Hill
58. Blackfriars Bridge
59. Clerkenwell
60. Strawberry Hill (cont.)
61. Vauxhall, Waterloo and Southwark bridges
62. Barber-Surgeons' Hall
63. The College of Surgeons
64. The Royal Academy
65. The Royal Academy (cont.)
66. London astrologers
67. St Giles's, past and present
68. The Post Office
69. Pall Mall
70. The Temple church
71. Scotsmen in London
72. The Foundling Hospital
73. The Corn Exchange
74. Ely Place
75. Goldsmiths' Hall.

Subject Areas: British & Irish history [HBJD1]