Customer Reviews

The London of Jack the Ripper: Then and Now

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In all honesty, I was just a little disappointed by this book. The photographs included are largely limited to the crime scenes or other locales relevant to the investigation (both at the present time or at various dates in the past). There are also a few pictures of the victims and some other newspaper/magazine illustrations, but alot of them I have seen elsewhere. The scene pictures are pretty decent but I must say that was rather expecting a few more general pictures of life in Victorian London, not just as related to the crimes, but showing things that help illustrate the period. In fairness, though, it was nowhere advertised that the book would be anymore than what it is so my expectations were probably a bit too high....

The only real criticism I have of the book is the absolute dearth of maps. There really should be maps for each series of photographs to help the non-London resident orient his or herself when examining the photos. Frequently the captions refer to a view as facing some particular compass direction but this is essentially useless to me and, I suspect, other readers.

Notwithstanding my negative comments, though, I am glad I bought this book. The text accompanying the illustrations owas not particularly informative or interesting but I wanted it for the photographs and it is very nice to read other books and then refer to the images in this one.

C John Thompson