The Ultimate Jack the Ripper Companion: An Illustrated Encyclopedia [Paperback]

Stewart P. Evans (Author), Keith Skinner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 10, 2001

Stewart P. Evans, a retired police officer and curator of the Suffolk Police Museum in England, has researched the Whitechapel Murders for more than thirty years. He is the coauthor of Jack the Ripper: First American Serial Killer. Keith Skinner, for three decades a historical researcher of the Ripper case, is coauthor of such titles as The Ripper Legacy and The Jack the Ripper A to Z.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Stewart P. Evans is a retired police office and a curator of the Suffolk Police Museum.


Keith Skinner is a historical researcher and expert on Jack the Ripper.
--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 768 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (December 10, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 078670926X
• ISBN-13: 978-0786709267
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.2 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,551,666 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A worthwhile compendium, January 22, 2005

By 

Adem Kendir (Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Ultimate Jack the Ripper Companion: An Illustrated Encyclopedia (Paperback)

This book is a necessary addition to any Ripper library. It is essentially a compilation of contemporary documents, mostly police, inquest and newspaper reports. It covers the major bases, including the individual murders and some documents relating to suspects and police opinions. Although it obviously may not be as comprehensive or up-to-date as one might like, it is one of the few primary source collections on the Whitechapel crimes, which alone makes it worth the read.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ultimate indeed!, July 11, 2008

By 

RIJU GANGULY "perceptive reader" (India) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Ultimate Jack the Ripper Sourcebook: An Illustrated Encyclopedia (Paperback)

It is indeed rarest of rare to find a book that is perfectly true in terms of its name, and this book falls under that "category" (are there any other books in that class?). It is truly ultimate as a source-book for the "Jack the Ripper" killing that terrorised London and keeps on horrifying us after all these years. Every year we come across new "theories" propounded either by the Ripperologists, or by rank amateurs trying to cash on our queries. But this book remains true and authentic. If at any point in my life I consider myself qualified enough to uplift myself to the rank of a Ripperologist rather than being the curious folk (as at present), I will make a thorough study of everything in this book. Until then, I can merely recommend: "please get hold of a copy of this book by any means".

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very valuable resource, August 13, 2010

By 

C. J. Thompson "Arctic John" (Pond Inlet, Nunavut Canada) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Ultimate Jack the Ripper Companion: An Illustrated Encyclopedia (Paperback)

This book is a useful compendium of source material for the serious student of the Ripper mystery... Indeed, it's audience is very much limited to hard-core 'Ripper-o-philes' as the included material is too dense and overly detailed for the casual reader. It includes laboriously transcribed primary source documents such as police reports, and a plethora of relevant newspaper articles, including those covering inquest testimony. The book is indeed a comprehensive work and very nearly rates 5 stars. Unfortunately, it falls short of a first class rating for a few reasons:

First of all, the title describes the book as an 'illustrated encyclopedia', but this description is a little misleading, both in the sense of being illustrated, and as being encyclopedic. True enough, the book *does* contain illustrations and is therefore 'illustrated' but one could make the same claim about a book with a single picture. Here there are three brief sections containing some photographs, a few drawings and a diagram or two. The pictures that are interesting and relevant are, for the most part, ones that have been reproduced in many other works, while the rest are not especially interesting and rather haphazardly organized. In short, since similar graphic sections are included in most Ripper books, it is a bit of an exaggerated claim to call it 'illustrated'... such a description is far more suited to the very excellent Jack the Ripper: Scotland Yard Investigates which has very few pages that do not contain illustrations, diagrams or maps directly related to the text.

I would also dispute the books claim to be encyclopedic as this would connote a 'quick reference' sort of design with the subject broken down into itemized topics arranged alphabetically. Here, the authors have adopted a narrative type format that is generally chronological, with source documents inserted onto the narrative text here and there. Unfortunately, this diminishes the utility of the book. The narrative, which provides a broad overview of the facts, really adds nothing that can be found elsewhere. Having the source material 'littered' through all this, almost superfluous, material makes finding a particular source document quite difficult... Often one has to look twice to see if one is reading the authors or a document that is being quoted.

Personally, I would like to see an 'ultimate companion' source book to have a much cleaner format; perhaps a section grouped into specific topics containing facsimiles of relevant documents in addition to the transcriptions, along with a brief blurb by the authors concerning the provenance of the material and adding some brief supplementary notes where applicable. In addition, I would like to see a much more comprehensive collection of illustrations grouped along with the source documents and, more importantly perhaps, maps and diagrams accompanying all documents describing, or relating to locales....

That all being said, however, I am glad I purchased the book.

C John Thompson