Victorian London Street Life in Historic Photographs [Paperback]

John Thomson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 13, 1994

Classic document of social realism contains 37 photographs by famed Victorian photographer John Thomson, accompanied by individual essays — by Thomson himself or social activist Adolphe Smith — that offer sharply drawn vignettes of lower-class laborers, dustmen, street musicians, shoe blacks, and other street people. A treasure trove of astonishing historical detail.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This volume was originally published as Street Life in London in 1877. Through text and photographs the book profiles 36 members of London's underclass in the late 1800s. Some of the profiles are generic-"London Cabmen"; "Covent Garden Flower Women" -while others describe a particular person-" 'Hookey Alf' of Whitechapel." An interesting and unusual history and reference title.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (July 13, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486281213
• ISBN-13: 978-0486281216
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 8.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #269,657 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #7 in Books > Literature & Fiction > History & Criticism > Movements & Periods > Victorian

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pictures that DO say a thousand words, June 13, 2000

By 

Don Gerstein (Phoenix, Arizona) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Victorian London Street Life in Historic Photographs (Paperback)

John Thomson's photographs come alive in this reprint of his book Street Life in London, originally published in 1877. While the pictures present a striking view of the city's inhabitants, it is the commentary by Thomson and Adolphe Smith that draws you inside the lives of those Londoners who made their living on the streets. From cabmen to shoe-blacks, from ginger-beer makers to chimney sweeps, the reader is swept along from one fascinating career to another. However, while the past may be fascinating to you and I, to the people forever captured by the camera it was a daily battle just to get by. Thomson and Smith have eloquently combined words and photographs to create a stark and haunting view of the day-to-day existence of those Londoners trapped by birth at the bottom of the Victorian social ladder. The book is a stunning achievement, a piece of the past exposed. It fills a void and is a welcome complement to other books on the Victorian era.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous resource for the amateur historian, historian, or writer, March 11, 2007

By 

Lydia Joyce - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Victorian London Street Life in Historic Photographs (Paperback)

The photographs are an incomparable resource--the first of their kind--and the articles rival Henry Mayhew's in depth, clarity, and coverage. These pictures will lead you into the intricate and fascinating lives of the lower classes of London, with information that simply isn't available elsewhere. From independent boot blacks to chair-menders, the lives of those who left few to no records are recorded with simplicity and sympathy appropriate to the subjects.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mesmerizing, January 11, 2009

By 

J. Perkins (Connecticut) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Victorian London Street Life in Historic Photographs (Paperback)

Yes, everything the others said is true, but what they didn't mention in detail are the narratives that go along with the pictures. Here you've got actual interviews, often times with the subject of the photo, so you learn their history and opinions, quoted, no less.

This, to me, is what fascinates me about this book. The pictures alone are so transporting, but you can look at a great book of historical pictures and if the text is boring, dry, dusty, educational - all you've got is what you've learned from looking at the pictures.

And even if the text were well written by a contemporary author, the pictures would still supercede the text. But not in this case. I took the book out of the library to look at the pictures and skim the text, but I'm reading every word.

In LONDON NOMADES (sic), he interviews a guy who knows the people in the photograph, and who says, "Bless ye!that's old Mary Pradd, sitting on the steps of the wan (sic), wot was murdered in the Borough, middle of last month." and both the guy and the author proceed to tell the story of Mary Pradd, who is - yes - sitting on the steps of the van, looking rather worse for the wear for her lifestyle.

STREET DOCTORS, the examination of the men who roamed the streets selling medicines out of their suitcases to the local neighborhoods, gives us a long and riveting narrative by the guy in the picture, a man who has his case open for two housewives, and looks like he has clubfoot, as one shoe has a sole 4" higher than the other. The author quotes the street doctor's story in his own words.

He speaks of how he was a cabdriver but had to give it up because of losing his eyesight. "At that time, my wife worked with her needle and her hands to keep things a going. She used to do charing during the day and sewing at night, shirtmaking. She got twopence-halfpenny for making a shirt.....I fell in with a gentleman selling ointment, he gave me a box which I used for my eyes....." and on the narrative goes.

Profiles cover the Covent Garden Flower Women (Eliza, anyone?), Public Disinfectors, Flying Dustmen (her father!), Shoe Blacks, Half Penny Ices, the London Boardmen (sandwich board advertising), and so much more.

I can't put it down. In fact, I'm buying it for my bookshelf.