Imperial Paris; Including New Scenes for Old Visitors

Imperial Paris; Including New Scenes For Old Visitors by William Blanchard Jerrold. In this companion to a lively travelogue, Jerrold surveys Paris during the mid-19th century, balancing satire with social observation. The volume combines prefatory notes and a sequence of chapters—Paris Under the Bees, English Spoken, Departed This Life in Paris, Paris with Its Knife and Fork, Near the Pantheon, The Demi-Tasse, Behind the Louvre, The Pilgrims of Paris, A French Waiter’s Story, Paris with a Mask On, Chiffons and Chiffoniers, The Four Seasons in Prose, The Bois de Boulogne, Paris Upon Wheels, Street-Notes, and The English Painted by the French—into a mosaic of urban life. It treats art markets, journalism, public works, the Universal Exhibition, funeral customs, dining manners, street vendors, and the idiosyncrasies of Parisians and English visitors. With lucid humor, Jerrold critiques the politics of Louis Napoleon, celebrates labor, and explores cultural exchange between Britain and France, offering a snapshot of Paris as both stage and street.