Descriptive Map of London Poverty 1889.

BOOTH, Charles.

Published by LondonStanford's Geographical Establishment ., 1889

Original lithographed map, printed in colours, of London, on four sheets (each sheet measuring 51 x 61 cm), key to plan below each sheet, mounted onto linen as issued. Extending from Notting Hill in the west to Poplar in the east to Camden Town in the north and Stockwell in the south. Each map bearing title to verso. Annotations to verso, generally an excellent copy. A fascinating map of fundamental importance to British social reform. Based upon Stanford's ?'Library Map of London'. The colouring of the map depicts, by street: ?"The Lowest Class. Vicious, semi-criminal" (black); ?"Very Poor, casual. Chronic Want" (blue); ?"Poor. 18s to 21s a week for a moderate family" (light blue); ?"Mixed. Some comfortable, others poor" (purple); ?"Fairly Comfortable. Good ordinary earnings" (pink); ?"Well-to-do. Middle class" (red); ?"Upper-middle and Upper classes. Wealthy" (yellow). Charles Booth (1840-1916), owner of the Booth Shipping Line, had always taken an interest in the welfare of working men; but it was not until he was past middle age that there began to appear the works which established his reputation as a writer on social questions, including his enquiry into the condition and occupations of the people of London, the earlier part of which appeared (along with this map), as Labour and Life of the People (1889), and the whole as Life and Labour of the People in London (1891-1903). Booth's works appeared at a critical time in the history of English social reform when a lively interest was being taken in the problems of pauperism, and it was coming to be recognised that benevolence, to be effective, must be scientific. As such Life and Labour was designed to show "the numerical relation which poverty, misery, and depravity bear to regular earnings and comparative comfort, and to describe general conditions under which each class lives". Among the many volunteers who helped him to compile his material were his wife's cousin Beatrix Potter and (Sir) Graham Balfour (for the earlier volumes), and Ernest Aves (for the later). Booth's object was to give an accurate picture of the condition of London as it was in the last decade of the nineteenth century; in this light, his Life and Labour was recognised as perhaps the most comprehensive and illuminating work of descriptive statistics which had yet appeared. "Quite the most important thematic maps of the Metropolis in the nineteenth century were those which accompanied Charles Booth's Monumental survey" (Hyde). Hyde 252. Seller Inventory # 61708

Bibliographic Details

Title: Descriptive Map of London Poverty 1889.
Publisher: LondonStanford's Geographical Establishment .
Publication Date: 1889