Restoration London: Engaging Anecdotes and Tantalizing Trivia from the Most Magnificent and Renowned City of Europe [Paperback]

Liza Picard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 7, 2000

Here is seventeenth-century London as you've never seen it. The Restoration of Charles II marked a period of growth in colonization and trade, the rise of political parties, and an increase in the power of Parliament. Restoration London provides a fascinating look at everyday life in the city during that time. Using diaries, almanacs, newspapers, advice books, government papers, personal documents, and more, Liza Picard brilliantly portrays the human side of both ordinary daily living and catastrophic events. We see a fire out of control, leaving a great and prosperous city buried in its own ruins. We witness an enormous rebuilding, with determination from the people and a Proclamation from Charles that London would be "a much more beautiful city than that consumed."

From the splendor of lovely English gardens to pollution-filled air and streets clogged with waste and rubbish; from graceful living, fashionable clothes, and elegant décor to medical risks, plagues, accidents, and early deaths, this unique book describes the simple pleasures and the overwhelming difficulties of the time. We discover the craft of cabinet making, the art of embroidery, and the revival of theater. We are shown the importance of astrology, magic, and superstition in medical care, the labor of housework and shopping, the pleasures of music and dancing, the hazards of sex, the limitations of education, the nature of the laws, the conflicting views of the churches, and the extremes of poverty and wealth.

With meticulous detail and vivid descriptions, Restoration London shows us the people who lived there and gives us a better understanding of who they were.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Highly entertaining!" -- The Independent, London

"Liza Picard takes the 'boring' out of history and puts the people in!" -- -- Los Angeles Times

About the Author

Liza Picard was born in Essex in 1927, the youngest daughter of the village doctor. She read law at the London School of Economics and qualified as a barrister; however, she chose not to practice. She worked for many years in the office of the Solicitor of the Inland Revenue and lived in Gray's Inn and Hackney before retiring in Oxford.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (March 7, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 038073236X
• ISBN-13: 978-0380732364
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,657,066 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Peek at Londoners Long-gone, March 22, 2000

By A Customer

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This review is from: Restoration London: Engaging Anecdotes and Tantalizing Trivia from the Most Magnificent and Renowned City of Europe (Paperback)

Liza Picard's recently published book, "Restoration London: Engaging Anecdotes and Tantalizing Trivia from the Most Magnificent and Renowned City of Europe" (Post Road Press, 2000) is every bit as entertaining and informative as her last book, "Restoration London: From Poverty to Pets, From Medicine to Magic, From Slang to Sex, From Wallpaper to Women's Rights" (St. Martin's Press, 1998). In fact, it _is_ her last book, in soft-cover and with a new subtitle.

This is one of the best books of its kind and a model of what a popular history of social life should be. Liza Picard focuses tightly on her subject and period (London from 1660 to 1670), and the result is that no factoid is too trivial for inclusion. Relying mainly on the diaries of Samuel Pepys with additional material from other contemporary sources, Picard illuminates the unconscious assumptions, strange beliefs, and curious daily habits of people who can seem as alien as if they lived on another planet, and yet are undeniably human. The book is well organized, well indexed, and admirably endnoted, but don't mistake this for a dry, scholarly tome. Picard's style is gracefully informal, sometimes tart but never judgmental. It is clear that she bears a strong, if bemused, affection for the people of a harsh and wonderful era.

The soft-cover edition is trade sized, only slightly smaller than the hard-cover, with hideous cover art. The type is dark and surprisingly crisp considering the roughness of the paper, which is sadly thin and shows through. The hard-cover is more attractive as a physical object and benefits from a dust jacket featuring a charming 17th century still life which perfectly illustrates the book's theme.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Everything you wanted to know ... and probably more, August 10, 2000

By 

Joseph Haschka (Glendale, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Restoration London: Engaging Anecdotes and Tantalizing Trivia from the Most Magnificent and Renowned City of Europe (Paperback)

RESTORATION LONDON, written, oddly enough, by a lawyer, is a cross-sectional portrait of the city in the years 1660-1670. Extensively researched, it answers any questions you may have had about London during that period, and many more you wouldn't have thought to ask. The author, Liza Picard, leaves no stone unturned to describe the condition and characteristics of the streets, water supply, pollution, waste disposal, the great fire of 1666, houses, interior decorating, heating, lighting, furniture, gardens, parks, postal service, medicine, dentistry, clothing, jewelry, cosmetics, hairdressing, housework, shopping, markets, payment, prices, cooking, recipes, drink, the household master and mistress, children, apprentices, servants, slaves, pets, education, etiquette, the arts, music, dancing, excursions, the law, marriage, divorce, crime, taxes, contracts, wills, the rich, the poor, the "middling sort", the Church of England, the Church of Rome, the Jews, astrology, superstitions, witchcraft, and everybody's favorite - sex.

Unless, like I do, you think London the greatest city on earth, or are just interested in urban life in past times, you may find this book a bit over the top. However, Picard entertains, and informs, with a dry wit that is perhaps too infrequently demonstrated. Consider this on the role of physicians:

"Poor Charles II, dying of a stroke and kidney failure, had to suffer bleeding and enemas, cantharides on his scalp and red-hot irons on his feet, as well as a total of 58 drugs, all in his last five days. The energy of his physicians was much admired in professional circles."

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars VERY enjoyable, September 23, 2002

By 

Joan Ashcraft (Olympia, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Restoration London: Engaging Anecdotes and Tantalizing Trivia from the Most Magnificent and Renowned City of Europe (Paperback)

This book was absolutely perfect. I wish this woman would write about other eras in history as well. She gets as close as one could imagine to describing what it must have really been like to be alive during that time (The short answer: Very very smelly) because she bases it on the diaries and journals of folks that lived through it. Plus she's a Brit so the "asides" are an absolute howl (without distracting from the subject). To sum up, I'm crazy about this book and I appreciate the author writing it especially for me.