London [Paperback]

John Russell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1996

For John Russell, author of the highly successful Paris as well as a score of other volumes, writing London was a labor of love. English by birth, Russell lived in London for nearly 50 years, and here he offers a matchless tour of the key aspects of the city and its notable citizens through the centuries. 183 illustrations, including 86 in full color.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Art critic Russell present a lavishly illustrated history of London.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

A reminiscence of times experienced and histories explored, this offering is a very personal look at a city of infinite attractions that has captured the hearts and imaginations of generations of natives and visitors alike. Russell, an eminent writer on the arts for over 50 years, brings to life, through anecdote, illustrations, and memoir, the city of London from its re-creation after the Great Fire of 1660 through the great fires of World War II and up to the present. He takes us into the world of Wren and Constable, Boswell and Handel, Shaw and Olivier, and Lucian Freud and R.B. Kitaj in this love letter to what is less a geographic concept than a state of mind and memory. Recommended both for Anglophiles and everyone else waiting to be convinced.
Paula Frosch. Metropolitan Museum of Art Lib., New York
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Harry N Abrams; 1ST edition (November 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810926733
• ISBN-13: 978-0810926738
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 8.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,919,145 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Artists' London, August 10, 2004

By 

FrKurt Messick "FrKurt Messick" (Bloomington, IN USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: London (Hardcover)

John Russell has put together in this book, simply entitled London, a wonderful guide to the memory of London in word and, most especially, visual images. Lavishly illustrated and bejeweled with paintings, photographs, drawings and maps, this is the ultimate 'coffee table' book on London. But please, don't set your coffee (or, as it is a book on London, more appropriately, tea) cup on it, and don't just let it sit there. Peruse the pages -- no reading required! Although, unless I miss my guess, you will want to read these pages that accompany such wonderful visual treats.

Russell includes drawings by Wren (who practically rebuilt London after the fire of 1666) for whom there is no monument ('If you want to see a monument, look around', he is once reported to have said, meaning the abundance of architectural monuments most of which remain to this day), Carter, Gilbert, Soane, Kip & Knyff (a print of the original drawing for Buckingham House, now Palace). Among the paintings are all famous portraitures and landscapers, scenes royal and common, serious and fanciful. Nearly 200 illustrations, including almost 100 full-colour plates of paintings, make this book a stunning edition.

Russell recounts an early comment on urban renewal, by Francis Bacon, who commented upon buying a house in an unsafe neighbourhood: 'I have bought the house in which I shall be murdered.' But, within a year, the Foreign Minister had purchased the neighbouring house, making the area safe and sought-after.

Russell said that the changes talked about here [and generally everywhere in the history of London] owe nothing to Authority. No government planned them, foresaw them, or sanctioned them. They are owed to the experimental, liberated, and sardonic temper of the individual Londoner as it has evolved.

'Like every other big city in the western world, London was built for a society that no longer exists.' This one statement perhaps best sums up the history of London. This book gives new life to that departed society, and helps to put London in its proper context.

This was obviously a labour of great love on the part of Russell. Do yourself and favour and purchase the hard-back edition. You will be glad you did.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The City as it *should* be experienced . . ., January 29, 2002

By 

Michael K. Smith (South Louisiana) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: London (Hardcover)

The much-honored Russell spent nearly thirty years as chief art critic for the London Sunday Times, and then came to New York and did the same thing for the New York Times for another sixteen years. Even after leaving London, though, he still considers himself an insider of that city, and in this book he shares his fifty-year perspective with the reader. It's not a guidebook nor a travel book, but a highly idiosyncratic sort-of-memoir of London, organized around many diverse themes, including Samuel Johnson, Buckingham Palace, the rebuilding of the city after the Great Fire, the role of the Thames, and what he calls the "spirit of place" -- which is one of the best chapters in this marvelous book. Throughout, he illustrates his thoughts and recollections and often witty commentary with reproductions of art and photographs of people and buildings which, brought together in one place like this, are just about worth the price of the book by themselves. One of the best books about London I've seen in years.

6 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars London or not?, November 3, 2000

By 

silas neil tashi (Kathmandu, Nepal) - See all my reviews

This review is from: London (Hardcover)

London, the book YOU should read. Don't waste time get the book! Do you want it? Buy it here then. London is a great book which contains an amazing amount of information that will make your brain burst!Well anybody out there want to find out about London?Come here and click on the button! London is a book that is basiclly amazing, basically real and finally, brill! Well London is basically the only book that will travel you through London. This is THE BEST BOOK ABOUT OLD LONDON!Read it in front of your children and they will know instantly about London. Read it to your friends and they will go talking about it all day long! Read it to your relatives and they will go mad about it! Read it to a stranger and they will invite you over every day!