Full Description
Produced between 1850 and 1862, London Labour and the London Poor is one of the most significant examples of nineteenth century oral history. The collection teems with the minute particulars of the everyday—bits and pieces of London lives assembled into a precarious whole by the author, editor, and principal investigator, Henry Mayhew. Mayhew was interested in the social fabric of people's lives, their labour and earnings, but also their families, education, leisure time, and religious beliefs. What gives his "case studies" such immediacy is that they seem to flow unprompted and uninterrupted from the mouths of his subjects: street sellers, dock labourers, musicians, rat catchers, vagrants, chimney sweeps, thieves, and prostitutes.
All are captured in this newly annotated and abridged edition of Mayhew's four-volume work. Historical appendices include a contemporary map of London, reviews of London Labour, and other slum journalism from the period.
Key features
The only edition with appendices
Contents
Volume 1
Preface
THE STREET-FOLK
Of Wandering Tribes in General
Costermongers
The London Street Markets on a Saturday Night
The Politics of Costermongers.—Policemen
Religion of Costermongers
Language of Costermongers
The Literature of Costermongers
Of the "Penny Gaff"
Of the Coster-Girls
Of the Homes of the Costermongers
Of the Street-Irish
Of the Street-Irish
Of the Education, Literature, Amusements, and Politics of the Street-Irish
The Homes of the Street-Irish
Street-Sellers of Green Stuff
Watercress Girl
Of the Street-Sellers of Stationary, Literature, and the Fine Arts
Of the Street-Sellers of Stationary, Literature, and the Fine Arts
Of the Death and Fire Hunters
Of Political Litanies, Dialogues, etc.
Of "Cocks," etc.
Of "Strawing"
Of the Sham Indecent Street-Trade
Of the Low Lodging-houses of London
Of the Filth, Dishonesty, and Immorality of Low Lodging-houses
Of Street "Ballads on a Subject"
Of the Experience of a Street Author, or Poet
Of the Street Booksellers
Of the Experience of a Street Bookseller
Of the Street-sellers of Engravings, etc., in Umbrellas, etc.
Of the "Screevers," or Writers of Begging-Letters and Petitions
Of the Street-Sellers of Manufactured Articles
The Crippled Street-seller of Nutmeg-Graters
Of the Street-Sellers of Poison for Rats
Volume 2
THE STREET-FOLK
BOOK THE SECOND
Introduction
Of the Street-Sellers of Second-Hand Articles
Of the Street-Sellers of Petticoat and Rosemary-Lanes
Of the Street-Sellers of Live Animals
Of the Street-Sellers of Live Birds
Of the Street-Buyers
Of the "Rag-and-Bottle," and the "Marine-Store," Shops
Of the Street-Buyers of Waste (Paper)
Of the Street-Finders or Collectors
Of the Sewer-Hunters
Of the Mud-Larks
Of the London Dustmen, Nightmen, Sweeps, and Scavengers
Of the Dustmen of London
Chimney-Sweepers
Of the London Chimney-Sweepers
Of the General Characteristics of the Working Chimney-Sweepers
Of the Subterranean Character of the Sewers
Crossing-Sweepers
Crossing-Sweepers
Gander—The "Captain" of the Boy Crossing-Sweepers
Volume 3
The Destroyers of Vermin
A Night at Rat-Killing
Her Majesty's Bug Destroyer
OUR STREET FOLK
I. Street Exhibitors
Exhibitor of the Microscope
The Snake, Sword, and Knife-Swallower
Street Clown
Street Reciter
II. Street Musicians
"Old Sarah"
Tom-tom Players
IV. Street Artists
Street Photography
V. Exhibitors of Trained Animals
The Happy Family Exhibitor
SKILLED AND UNSKILLED LABOURERS
The Coal-Heavers
The Coal-Heavers
The Dock-Labourers
The London Dock
LONDON VAGRANTS
London Vagrants' Asylums for the Houseless
Appendix A: Table of Contents
Full table of contents of London Labour and the London Poor, including subheadings
Appendix B: Reviews of London Labour and the London Poor
1. Eclectic Review, October 1851
2. Athenaeum, November 15, 1851
3. Reynold's Newspaper, May 18, 1851
4. Reynold's Newspaper, June 15, 1851
5. Reynold's Newspaper, July 20, 1851
Appendix C: Selection of entries from the Morning Chronicle and Volume 4 of London Labour and the London Poor
From The Morning Chronicle
1. A Visit to the Cholera Districts of Bermondsey, September 24, 1849
2. Letter I, October 19, 1849
From Volume 4
3. Classification of the Workers and Non-Workers of Great Britain
4. Female Operatives
5. Pickpockets and Shoplifters
6. Hindoo Beggars
7. Negro Beggars
Appendix D: Answers to Correspondents
1. No. 19, April 19, 1851
2. No. 24, May 24, 1851
3. No. 33, July 26, 1851
4. Nos. 9 & 10, February 8 & 15, 1851
5. No. 16, March 29, 1851
6. No. 21, May 3, 1851
7. No. 23, May 17, 1851
Appendix E: Mayhew's Contemporaries and "Slum Journalism"
1. From The Rookeries of London, by Thomas Beames
2. From London Shadows: A Glance at the 'Homes' of the Thousands, by George Godwin 3. From Ragged London in 1861, by John Hollingshead
Appendix F: Map of London
