Victorian London: The Life of a City 1840 - 1870 - Hardcover

Picard, Liza

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0297847333 ISBN 13: 9780297847335

Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2005

Synopsis

Like her previous books, this book will be the result of the author's passionate interest in the realities of everyday life - and the conditions in which most people lived - so often left out of history books. This period of mid Victorian London encompasses a huge range of subjects : Victoria's wedding and the place of the royals in popular esteem; how the very poor lived, the underworld, prostitution, crime, prisons and transportation; the public utilities - Bazalgette on sewers and road design, Chadwick on pollution and sanitation; private charities - Peabody, Burdett Coutts - and workhouses; new terraced housing and transport, trains, omnibuses and the Underground; furniture and decor; families and the position of women; the prosperous middle classes and their new shops, e.g. Peter Jones, Harrods; entertaining and servants, food and drink; unlimited liability and bankruptcy; the rich, the marriage market, taxes and anti-semitism; the Empire, recruitment and press-gangs. The period begins with the closing of the Fleet and Marshalsea prisons and ends with the first (steam-operated) Underground trains and the first Gilbert & Sullivan. All the splendours and horrors of Victorian life will be vividly recalled.

About this title

About the Author:

Liza Picard was born in 1927. She worked for the Inland Revenue for many years and lived in London, before retiring to Oxford where she now lives. Anton Lesser has played many of the principal roles for the Royal Shakespeare Company including Petruchio, Romeo and Richard III. His film work includes Charlotte Grey, Eroica and The River Queen. He is active in radio and spoken word audio, with a range from Paradise Lost and Homer to Hamlet. He is particularly known for recording the novels of Charles Dickens, having won a Spoken Word Award for Great Expectations.

Review:

'Like her previous books, this is the result of the author's passionate interest in the realities of everyday life - and the conditions in which most people lived - so often that left out of history books...The period begins with the closing of the Fleet and Marshalsea prisons and ends with the first (steam-operated) Underground trains and the first Gilbert & Sullivan. All the splendours and horrors of Victorian life are vividly recalled.' Options XIII

About this edition

• Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0297847333
• ISBN 13: 9780297847335
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 400