Life Scenes in London.

Notes

First and only edition, scarce, Copac lists just Guildhall, and Bishopsgate libraries, the latter evidently defective of a plate, and a leaf of text, OCLC adds the Newberry only. "to present to the Public a series of Original Sketches, wedded to amusing, and they trust, not unprofitable letterpress, has been the aim of the Publishers" (Preface). The images are; The Bird Painter's Studio - showing the "Bird Duffer" at work colouring linnets to pass as canaries; Our Polite Literature - a crowd presses around the window of a newsagents to read the latest "Illustrated Police News" posted in the window; Railway Accommodation - two plates, a crowded scene on a mainline station concourse, "The City", and "The Walworth Shoot", a narrow staircase packed with surging commuters; A Virago - a woman is dragged away from the 'pub', "A virago is there; she has been there for hours; she has been there until she has spent her last coin; she has been there until her blood has turned into fire; her eyes glitter, her brain reels, she howls, she shrieks discordantly for more of the cursed poison she is killing herself with"; and finally Street Traffic - Ludgate Circus - "Our illustration will commend itself to our reader for its impress of truthfulness Any week day may a similar scene to that in the plate be witnessed by those who choose to visit Ludgate Circus. Thronged with a continuous and never-ceasing stream of traffic, that culminates to density towards the afternoon, it is to the intelligent observer one of the grandest sights of London, for its bustle of and animation convey some idea of the magnitude of the wealth and trade of this vast metropolis". Highly attractive and uncommon popular views of London in the late nineteenth century.