The Regency Underworld (Sutton History Classics) [Paperback]

Donald A. Low (Author)

Book Description

Series: Sutton History Classics | Publication Date: October 1, 2005

Alongside the world of Pride and Prejudice and Vanity Fair, Byron, Keats, Constable and Nash, there also existed a pulsating underworld where crime and vice of every kind flourished. Venture into this forgotten world, and discover a fascinating place filled with pleasure-seekers, criminals and body snatchers at work. This revised edition has a new introduction by the author, and is illustrated with a variety of contemporary prints, portraits and cartoons to bring the period and the characters of this sinister period to life. Anyone with an interest in the period, or in the underground activities which tended not to be explored in the novels of the time, will find this essential reading.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

London's underworld at the turn of the 19th century was a complex, vibrant, macabre scene, teeming with high-stakes gamblers, underage pickpockets, drunkards, prostitutes and con men. According to Low, professor emeritus of English at the University of Stirling, the years 1800-1830 represented a "breathing space for the nation," a "final fling" before the advent of the Metropolitan Police in 1829 and Queen Victoria's ascension to the throne. This revised edition of a work first published in England in 1982 provides extensive excerpts from contemporary diaries, letters and memoirs. Readers familiar with Vanity Fair and Oliver Twist will find Low's portraits of society prostitutes and nine-year-old thieves mastered by sinister "fences" particularly illuminating, but all will locate something juicy or disturbing here, such as the description of the hard-drinking "resurrection-men," or body-snatchers, who exhumed fresh corpses for dissection by the age's leading surgeons. Often absorbing, the book does sometimes linger too long, as when Low dwells on various unsuccessful efforts to install a centralized police force to replace the city's dozing watchmen, or when he details the popular appeal of "Tom and Jerry," two comic rogues who dominated the day's pages and stages. But if this pair, with their underworld cant, now seem obscure, other Regency characters seem as fresh as today's newsAsuch as Mary Anne Clarke, rejected mistress of the Duke of York, who brought the nation to a standstill by testifying in Parliament about their illicit affair. 50 b&w illustrations.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Donald Low is Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Stirling.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: The History Press (October 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0750940476
• ISBN-13: 978-0750940474
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,069,785 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating and lively portrayal, April 20, 2000

By 

A. Woodley "Patroness, Janeites, the Austen list" (New Zealand) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Regency Underworld (Hardcover)

The seamier side of London in the early nineteenth century written with flare. This book was an enjoyable romp through the back streets, slums and 'rookeries' of London and the attempts by authorities to control them.

The book is packed full of detail of the people of the time including some of the more famous characters such as fences and theives and the methods they used to continue their trade. You can read about 'Mudlarks and scuffle hunters' of the river Thames, or if you prefer, the 'resurrectionists' who traded in dead bodies for medical students.

Low also draws deeply on literature of the time such as Pierce Egan's "Life in London" which is chock full of authentic Regency-era slang. For instance Money could be referred to as "Blunt, rhino, flash the screens, sport the rhino, show the needful, post the pony, nap the rent, stump the pewter, tip the brads down with the dust only get into tip street."

Some great illustrations and a fun trip into the life among the lower orders.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, intriguing information, August 12, 2008

By 

Elaine Lyons Bach "author of Gentle Journey" (Ft.Lauderdale) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Regency Underworld (Sutton History Classics) (Paperback)

Gentle Journey
This book is fantastic for the Regency writer who wants to be accurate with their historical facts, but it is also as easy to read through as a novel and filled with interesting details. I am very glad I bought it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Regency + Underworld = Fascinating? No, August 3, 2009

By 

Thomas M. Sullivan (Lake George, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Regency Underworld (Sutton History Classics) (Paperback)

When this book popped up on my reading rotation, I was really looking forward to what promised to be an interesting work. After all, how could an author miss with the subject matter of crime (and, hopefully, punishment) during one of the most deliciously dissolute periods of English history? Well, turns out that if he concentrates the major portion of the first part of the book on a too detailed background of the founding of the Metropolitan Police and only the last, relatively few, pages to interesting portraits of four of the era's notable scalawags, it can be done. In short, should have provided more vignettes and less of what amounts to legislative history. Overall, it reminded me of Jessica Warner's "Craze: Gin and Debauchery in an Age of Reason:" much promised, less delivered.