Dickens's Victorian London. 1839-1901. Alex Werner and Tony Williams.

We are celebrating the 200th anniversary of Dickens' birth, and it certainly shows. On television we have had 'Great Expectations' ( certainly not what I normally have of televison programs) and 'The Mystery of edwin Drood'. Both very well done and well recieved. The book shops are filled with reprints and reissues of his books, and with biographies or treatises on his life, works and charcters. Now we have a book of photographs. And what a book!

The authors have collected an incredible set of photographs of people and places from the Victorian era, most of which are rarely seen outside of the archives, and are the more interesting because of that. Of course, it's not just photographs; there are reproductions of paintings too, and - something that really took my interest - the frontspiece and endpiece are maps of London at that time. It's a fascinating glimpse of how the city was and extremely reassuring to see so many familiar place names still surviving in this world of rapid growth and change.

The book, using archive photography from the Museum of London and excerpts from the books of Charles Dickens, chronicles life in London as he knew it, and an intriguing snapshot it makes. The rookeries, the stews, all the slums and the characters who populate them are brought vividly to life through the text and photographs a comprehensive picture of Victorian London is presented in a way that will keep you reading, and even wanting to know more.

It's possibly a heresy, maybe even a crime, but I have never been a hige Dickens fan, but I am totally enamoured of this book, and although not a Londoner but having lived and worked there, it is quite wonderful to see photos of streets that I have walked and known, and to realise that they have not changed so much as to be unrecogniseable. Indeed, there is an element of comfort in knowing that no matter how much things change, they still remain the same. Now, if only there was a handy and intellectual sounding phrase, possibly French, to say that with.

The authors;Alex Werner is Head of History collections at the London Museum, and a trustee of the Dickens Museum, and Tony Williams is an Associate Editor of 'the Dickensian' and Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Buckingham. Both really know their stuff.

I can heartily endorse this book. Interesting, illuminating, fascinating and educational. Wonderful stuff!
For it's subject and presentation. 5 mushrooms.class="b"alt=""><

Ofah.