Street Life in London (1877-78), by journalist Adolphe Smith and photographer John Thomson, aimed to reveal by the innovative use of photography and essays the conditions of a life of poverty in London. Now regarded as a pioneering photo-text and a foundational work of socially conscious photography - "one of the most significant and far-reaching photobooks in the medium's history" (The Photobook: A History) - Street Life in London failed to achieve commercial success in its own time. In this groundbreaking book, we see the start, but not the conclusion, of a conversation between text and image in the service of education, reportage and social justice. This newly designed and typeset edition contains the full text and makes available to a contemporary audience Thomson's powerful images in their original size and rich colour.

The authors of this book invented photojournalism as they roamed through London creating this book, with Thomson taking pictures and Smith interviewing and writing about the poor people they met on the streets.When you read this book, you will meet a host of Dickensian characters such as: -- John Day: After years of drunkenness, he "chanced to obtain a glimpse of his own countenance reflected in a public-house mirror. His bleared eyes, his distorted features and ignominious, degraded appearance produced so sudden and forcible an impression, that he ... called for a penny glass of beer, and swore that it should be the last."-- Jacobus Parker: Known as the "dramatic shoe-black," he worked for the government and acted in many plays in London theaters. Then, "Suddenly I fell ill, lost the sight of my left eye, and had to leave my regular work ... Now, I am stationed as a shoe-black, at your service, armed with a peddler's licence. ... To tell you the truth, when I think of my past and present, I am surprised to find myself so happy and contented."You will also learn about the trades that helped the poor of Victorian London to survive. You will meet the swagsellers, the mush fakers, the old-clothes dealers, the wall-workers, the ginger-beer makers, the flying dustmen, the street doctors who impress their poor patients by diagnosing them in "crocus Latin," and many others.

Within a Dutch enclave already removed from the larger world, Janie’s family is further isolated and odd. Janie struggles within the tight-knit community to understand the secrets and events involving her family. She knows the line her father draws between the holy and the sinful. His boundaries and rigid belief system nearly destroy the very family they were meant to protect. Persistent rumors and shunning by church members add to Janie’s heartache and confusion. Her endurance to preserve a loving relationship with her family is an intimate story of triumph over community bigotry and religious zeal gone too far.

The motivations behind Dickens' novels and the poverty-stricken world of 19th century London.

This book examines the 1877-78 publication Street Life in London, by journalist Adolphe Smith and photographer John Thomson. Street Life in London aimed to reveal, through the innovative use of photography and essays, the conditions of a life of poverty in London. Now regarded as a pioneering photo-text and a foundational work of socially conscious photography - "one of the most significant and far-reaching photobooks in the medium's history" (The Photobook: A History) - Street Life in London did not achieve commercial success in its own time. In Street Life in London we see the start, but not the conclusion, of a conversation between text and image in the service of education, reportage and social justice. This book is the first-ever in-depth analysis of the genesis, development and context of Smith and Thomson's groundbreaking publication.

From rag-gatherers to royalty, from fish knives to Freemasons: everyday life in Victorian London. Like its acclaimed companion volumes, Elizabeth's London, Restoration London and Dr Johnson's London, this book is the product of the author's passionate interest in the realities of everyday life so often left out of history books. This period of mid Victorian London covers a huge span: 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, such as Peter Jones and 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.