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The Ultimate Jack the Ripper Companion: An Illustrated Encyclopedia Paperback – July 23, 2009

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

4.7 29 ratings

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The legendary Jack the Ripper terrorized London’s prostitutes in 1888, and horrified the world with his cruelty. These horrific unsolved murders and stories of the terrifying desecration of his victim’s bodies still captivate the world 100 years later. Police reports, newspaper articles, photographs, commentary, illustrations and much more, this is the ultimate resource for any researcher or follower of Ripper lore.

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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.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Skyhorse (July 23, 2009)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 768 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1602396663
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1602396661
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.4 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 5.2 x 7.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #4,865,452 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,337 in Medical Forensic Psychology
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- #2,146 in Personality Disorders (Books)

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4.7 29 ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book informative and interesting. They appreciate the authenticity of the information, including witness statements not found in other books. The book provides a valuable resource with primary source documents such as police reports, inquest testimony, and notes by investigators.

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7 customers mention "Information content"7 positive0 negative

Customers find the book informative and interesting. They say it's a valuable resource with useful source material for serious students of the Ripper mystery. The book is described as an intensive work that contains a lot of detail, including relevant police reports and newspaper articles.

"This is one amazing book so full of information that I purchased several copies. As it states on the cover: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, and it is...." Read more

"...He just gives the information that is avilable. Good book." Read more

"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..." Read more

"Very concise and interesting for anyone interested in the mystery of Jack the Ripper." Read more

3 customers mention "Authenticity"3 positive0 negative

Customers find the book authentic. It includes newspaper stories, witness statements, and primary source documents like police reports. They also mention it contains laboriously transcribed primary source documents such as inquest testimony, notes, and memorandums by investigators.

"...investigators themselves, times, dates, locations, notes and memorandums by the investigators and much more. Highly recommend." Read more

"...It has police reports, inquest testimony, newspaper stories ,and witness statements not found in other books. And best of all the author is..." Read more

"...It includes laboriously transcribed primary source documents such as police reports, and a plethora of relevant newspaper articles, including those..." Read more

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Faze Infinity
Great book!
Reviewed in the United States on February 25, 2018
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This is the most detailed book about Jack the Ripper you will ever possibly find. In the middle of the book it shows a few pages with pictures. If you're extremely interested in this case then this book is a must have.

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L. Thompson
The Ultimate Jack the Ripper Companion book Hardcover
Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2015
Verified Purchase
This is one amazing book so full of information that I purchased several copies. As it states on the cover: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, and it is. It contains photographs, illustrations, information on the victims as well as the investigators themselves, times, dates, locations, notes and memorandums by the investigators and much more. Highly recommend.

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Kindle Customer
A Must Have for Ripperologists
Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2010
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one of the best Jack the Ripper books I have studied. It has police reports, inquest testimony,
newspaper stories ,and witness statements not found in other books. And best of all the author is
not pushing some personal off the wall theory of who he thinks jack the ripper was. He just gives the information that is avilable. Good book.

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2 people found this helpful

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C. J. Thompson
A very valuable resource
Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2010
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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

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7 people found this helpful

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amanda
great gift
Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2011
Verified Purchase
This was a replacement gift as the first book was eaten by the dog. The original was bought in England at the museum and was very costly. So glad to give as a gift and was delivered before deadline.

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MarieO
Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2015
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Very concise and interesting for anyone interested in the mystery of Jack the Ripper.

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Matthew C. Norris
Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2016
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Very informative and intriguing.

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Debra Stout
Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2015
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good

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J.Gugel
Ein Muß für Fans
Reviewed in Germany on June 25, 2024
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Einfach toll vom Inhalt und von der schreibweise her

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J.P
Brief glance: Not full review
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 10, 2009
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I received this book today and having quickly flicked through it there seems to be a lot of material pulled from the public archives which is pretty handy seeing that I'm not going to be taking a trip down to the London Archive offices any time soon.
Also, it claims that some of the material is rare or has been lost. That I'm unsure of. It seems that there is a greater number of police/witness statements than potential ripper letters which is one disappointment. A huge section is allocated to each victim and the usual suspects are covered. There seems to be a solid amount of information in here, the index and other non-useful sections do not amount to more than 30+ pages like so many other books thankfully. You definately get your moneys worth. While it claims to be a Illustrative guide there are only about 20 or so pages containing pictures. However, this is surely a must have reference for any self respecting "Ripperolgist". Whether it lives up to its title of being "Ultimate" or not will have to wait until after more people have read it, which I'm sure won't be for quite a while!

On a bad note, the binding on this is absolutely horrendous! The cover is a flimsy paperback which is really inappropriate - the price to pay for having a ton of info at such a cheap price. The glue down the spine is worryingly thin and sparse.
Unless you'd rather have the old Hardback edition or wait for the new one to come out I'd suggest you buy some stickyback book covering to protect it.

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