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The Victorian City: Everyday Life in Dickens' London
From the New York Times bestselling and critically acclaimed author of The Invention of Murder , an extraordinary, revelatory portrait of everyday life on the streets of Dickens' London.
The nineteenth century was a time of unprecedented change, and nowhere was this more apparent than London. In only a few decades, the capital grew from a compact Regency town into a sprawling metropolis of 6.5 million inhabitants, the largest city the world had ever seen. Technology―railways, street-lighting, and sewers―transformed both the city and the experience of city-living, as London expanded in every direction. Now Judith Flanders, one of Britain's foremost social historians, explores the world portrayed so vividly in Dickens' novels, showing life on the streets of London in colorful, fascinating detail.
From the moment Charles Dickens, the century's best-loved English novelist and London's greatest observer, arrived in the city in 1822, he obsessively walked its streets, recording its pleasures, curiosities and cruelties. Now, with him, Judith Flanders leads us through the markets, transport systems, sewers, rivers, slums, alleys, cemeteries, gin palaces, chop-houses and entertainment emporia of Dickens' London, to reveal the Victorian capital in all its variety, vibrancy, and squalor. From the colorful cries of street-sellers to the uncomfortable reality of travel by omnibus, to the many uses for the body parts of dead horses and the unimaginably grueling working days of hawker children, no detail is too small, or too strange. No one who reads Judith Flanders's meticulously researched, captivatingly written The Victorian City will ever view London in the same light again.
The nineteenth century was a time of unprecedented change, and nowhere was this more apparent than London. In only a few decades, the capital grew from a compact Regency town into a sprawling metropolis of 6.5 million inhabitants, the largest city the world had ever seen. Technology―railways, street-lighting, and sewers―transformed both the city and the experience of city-living, as London expanded in every direction. Now Judith Flanders, one of Britain's foremost social historians, explores the world portrayed so vividly in Dickens' novels, showing life on the streets of London in colorful, fascinating detail.
From the moment Charles Dickens, the century's best-loved English novelist and London's greatest observer, arrived in the city in 1822, he obsessively walked its streets, recording its pleasures, curiosities and cruelties. Now, with him, Judith Flanders leads us through the markets, transport systems, sewers, rivers, slums, alleys, cemeteries, gin palaces, chop-houses and entertainment emporia of Dickens' London, to reveal the Victorian capital in all its variety, vibrancy, and squalor. From the colorful cries of street-sellers to the uncomfortable reality of travel by omnibus, to the many uses for the body parts of dead horses and the unimaginably grueling working days of hawker children, no detail is too small, or too strange. No one who reads Judith Flanders's meticulously researched, captivatingly written The Victorian City will ever view London in the same light again.
520 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2012
322 people are currently reading
6029 people want to read
About the author
Judith Flanders
24 books546 followersJudith Flanders was born in London, England, in 1959. She moved to Montreal, Canada, when she was two, and spent her childhood there, apart from a year in Israel in 1972, where she signally failed to master Hebrew.
After university, Judith returned to London and began working as an editor for various publishing houses. After this 17-year misstep, she began to write and in 2001 her first book, A Circle of Sisters, the biography of four Victorian sisters, was published to great acclaim, and nominated for the Guardian First Book Award. In 2003, The Victorian House (2004 in the USA, as Inside the Victorian Home) received widespread praise, and was shortlisted for the British Book Awards History Book of the Year. In 2006 Consuming Passions, was published. Her most recent book, The Invention of Murder, was published in 2011.
Judith also contributes articles, features and reviews for a number of newspapers and magazines.
After university, Judith returned to London and began working as an editor for various publishing houses. After this 17-year misstep, she began to write and in 2001 her first book, A Circle of Sisters, the biography of four Victorian sisters, was published to great acclaim, and nominated for the Guardian First Book Award. In 2003, The Victorian House (2004 in the USA, as Inside the Victorian Home) received widespread praise, and was shortlisted for the British Book Awards History Book of the Year. In 2006 Consuming Passions, was published. Her most recent book, The Invention of Murder, was published in 2011.
Judith also contributes articles, features and reviews for a number of newspapers and magazines.
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November 13, 2024
What does the word "Dickensian" convey to you? An old-fashioned Christmas perhaps, with families collected together around an open fire, admiring the Christmas tree laden with presents and lights, chatting and sipping mulled wine, indulging themselves from a table laden with glorious food, extra treats such as sweetmeats and roast chestnuts, children excitedly romping about and playing party games; all as the snow cascades down outside? Dickens certainly presented a very attractive picture of home life, and is partly responsible for our nostalgic view of a perfect Christmas. If your knowledge of Victorian times is mostly from fiction, you may well have a fairly romanticised idea, and not realise that the author has glossed over the less savoury facts. And Dickens at his most sentimental was also to blame.
Yet whereas many authors concentrated on the middle classes, the gentry and the rich, Dickens was one of the few authors who had great sympathy for the poor. He wrote campaigning, persuasive fiction, in which many of his fully rounded characters were drawn from both the working and the middle classes. Perhaps if you have read his novels, to you "Dickensian" conjures up an image of grime and wretchedness, disease and abject poverty; of slums, workhouses, schools and prisons with "Dickensian conditions".
So which, if either, of these is a true picture of Victorian times? In his own time Charles Dickens was enormously popular, a flamboyant, larger-than-life, convivial character, equally loved both by Queen Victoria and the illiterate poorest of the poor, who would crowd into any space where his latest serialisations were being read aloud or dramatised for their entertainment. His works - melodramatic and humorous by turn - had immense appeal. And for those people of the time London was a hotch-potch of different sights, smells, and sounds. There was not one London but a myriad of different Londons according to your status and class, whether you were rich or poor, male or female. And if your view of Victorian London has up to now been a rose-tinted view, then this book will certainly disabuse you of that notion. It is a revelatory read about this sprawling city in Victorian times, warts and all.
During the nineteenth century the city of London burgeoned into the largest city in the world. From what had formerly been a Regency town it grew in a few short decades to be an immense mass of people, buildings, and the new railways. With Victoria's reign came the dawn of industrialisation; life was changing as never before. By the end of it, in this new metropolis, were grouped over 6.5 million people, most of whom spent most of their time in the streets. Judith Flanders shows in meticulous detail that despite all the changes, life was still lived, in the main, outside.
She maintains that Dickens appealed to everybody because he gave them a voyage into the unknown - into unfamiliar parts of London where they would not venture. For London was not even constant from year to year; the city was constantly changing and evolving, with the construction of the railways and sewers, new buildings shooting up everywhere, plus all the slum clearance. All was hustle and bustle; this was a city aways on the move. And Dickens was at the heart of everything, watching and recording what he saw.
Exactly two hundred years after he was born, in 2012, Judith Flanders published this book, The Victorian City: Everyday Life in Dickens' London following on from her earlier popular books on the Victorian house, Victorian crime and Victorian leisure. She approaches the book from the perspective of a social historian, trying capture all the variety and colour; life in the capital in all its vibrancy and its squalor. What brings this book to life, and also what makes this book unique, is that throughout she refers to the works of the great Charles Dickens. The book is peppered with examples, mostly from his novels, but also from his journalism and other writing. For a Dickens enthusiast, some parts are irresistible, adding depth to familiar situations and events.
"Dickens created London as much as London created Dickens."
Most biographies of Dickens concur that more than anything else, he was an observer of his city and his people. He himself seemed to recognise this. Judith Flanders says that Dickens,
"describes London like a special correspondent for posterity".
It was an inspiration to include the references to Dickens, as he was fascinated by London, and was so very knowledgeable about it. He would obsessively pace the city streets every day (at the speed of between 4 and 5 miles an hour) recording the slightest detail for use in his writing. So to read an account of the information behind his stories; information which would have been familar to his contemporaries but now seems strange or even weird, is very appealing. By using Dickens to illustrate the facts, Flanders can create a vivid picture of London during that time, and thus show both the differences and the similarilities with the present day.
The book is divided into four sections: "The City Wakes", "Staying Alive", "Enjoying Life", and "Sleeping and Awake". In this way, the author tries to loosely hold together the facts within. But the topics are very broad, and often what is described could fit into any of these sections. It is not a book which could easily be used as a reference book. To obvert this, Flanders has devoted many pages at the end to lists, appendices and "endnotes", many of which are fascinating in themselves, but are not everyone's chosen way of reading. It could be argued that incorporating these in the text would provide a smoother read, but then that would not address the problem of cross-referencing.
Judith Flanders says that she is attempting to,
"look at the streets of London as Dickens and his fellow Londoners saw it, to examine its workings, to take a walk, in effect through the city, as it appeared in Dickens' lifetime, from 1812 to 1870."
and to take her first steps on the walk she introduces a host of characters from chimney sweeps to midwives, representatives of most of the tradespeople of Victorian London, royalty and the church by a retelling of the 1810 Berner Street Hoax. This was an occasion when dozens of people were all summoned to one place by an eccentric joker who remained anonymous.
The players are now in position for the first Act, "The City Wakes" ...
This "First Act" contains four chapters. "Early to Rise", "On the Road", "Travelling" and "In and Out of London". There was no such thing as a "working day" in Victorian London. This was a city always on the move; even in the middle of the night people were trudging around. Perhaps they were going to work, perhaps returning from it. But everybody walked - and walked long distances to get to where they needed to be. The hours of work were by modern standards exhausting. A normal day could be four miles to walk to work, then a working day of twelve hours, followed by a four mile walk home. And this would be repeated six days a week.
In this section the reader gets the impression of a place of great noise and bustle, crowded with street hawkers, music and markets. Each day would start with many different types of roving street vendors shouting out the names of their wares, all according to different regular schedules. And throughout the day,
"Householders opened their doors, and screamed out "Muffins" with all their might,"
says Dickens. Judith Flanders even goes into how much it cost to buy each kind of food from every different kind of street vendor. Tightly packed streams of workers walked to and fro at all times of day. Many of the inhabitants complained that they never had any peace because of the constant roar of the streets. The streets were not only unbelievably noisy and crowded, but filthy with coal smoke, dung from the horse-drawn carriages wafted into the air, and the mud that was thrown up. Jo - or his equivalent in real life - the tragic crossing sweeper from "Bleak House", was known to everybody, doing his vital backbreaking work cleaning the same section of street every day. Yet he would be classed as a vagrant and eventually "moved on". Nobody ever thought to question, where to?
Since the main mode of transport was still horses (tens of thousands of them) drawing carts, there was a vast amount of horse dung deposited which needed to be removed. Feed needed to be brought in and stored, horses needed stabling, and eventually their carcasses had to be disposed of. Judith Flanders describes all this, going into details about slaughter houses and glue factories, and the incredible stench and pollution of the city which resulted.
The obvious difference between lifestyles of the rich and poor come through in every detail. Lighting on cabs and carriages was essential. Grand balls and the "season" for the wealthy ran very late, until 3am at the earliest, often far later. By the time the rich aristocracy were travelling home in their cabriolets, the lamplighters of Victorian London would be beginning to light the much needed gaslights. There is also a detailed description of the different methods of transport, omnibuses, and all the many accidents. The descriptions of "commuting" may help a reader to put things in perspective when grumbling about modern day traffic jams, which bear no relation to the horrors of riding the newly introduced omnibuses in Victorian London.
Judith Flanders carefully chronicles the various forms of road surfacing such as - surprisingly - wood. There are a dozen pages on macadam road surfacing. There is also a section about which waterways used to flow into the Thames, which seems a little tedious. However, others may find these technical details very interesting.
The next section, "Staying Alive" begins with 1861's Tooley Street Fire, and also contains 4 chapters: "The World's Market", "Selling the Streets", "Slumming", and "The Waters of Death". Chapters on air pollution, over-capacity graveyards, and the vast cesspool underlying London are a shocking and depressing read. On almost every page there is a startling fact or statistic - sometimes a revelation - which makes the reader stop in their tracks for a while to try to absorb some of the flood of information.
"Previously, the rich and poor had lived in the same districts; the rich in the main streets, the poor in the service streets behind. As London expanded ... the houses of the poor were demolished ... their residents were forced into ... slums."
The result of people crowded into spaces far too small for them was inevitable. The author gives an example of many families all living around one courtyard, with only only toilet between all the people, who numbered over a hundred. The stench grew and grew, and eventually in an incredible knee-jerk response to the outcry, the toilet was destroyed! The people then had nowhere else to go to defecate, except in the streets, or in the Thames. All the objections about the smell and filthy conditions led to the clearance of the slums; a horrific catalogue of suffering, as it was done without a thought for where people could move to.
Sometimes the rich didn't seem to even know of the poor's existence, because toll gates kept one side apart from another, even though they were in close proximity. Today in London there are a mere handful of tolls. But in Dickens' London there were well over a hundred. Ironically questions were raised in Parliament three times about reducing the number, but this resulted in the number soaring - because it was to the Corporation of London's benefit.
For a large part of the century almost every building was perched over a cesspool of sewage. Those lucky enough to sleep under cover - and frequently there would be dozens of people crammed into one room to sleep - would be in a house where the only place to put human excrement was the cellar, or to tip it into the Thames. Cellars were regularly filled up with human waste. Joseph Bazalgette was a pioneer of civil engineering, who introduced the sewer network for central London in response to the "Great Stink" of 1858. This began the cleansing of the river Thames, and put an end to the outbreak of cholera epidemics. Although most readers have probably heard of Joseph Bazalgette, this book really brings home the immense difference his innovations made. Sometimes the reader wonders how anyone could survive living in London at all.
The descriptions of the graveyards are an eyeopener. London did not know what to do with the sheer number of corpses since the population explosion. Graveyards were not the restful and peaceful places they now are, but were piled high with corpses. Starting off as pits in the ground, they were gradually built up and up until they were higher than an average person. And corpses regularly broke the surface. This book does give you an insight into the stench and putrefaction there must have been.
The third section, "Enjoying Life", begins with the 1867 Regent's Park Skating Disaster, where many people fell through the ice and drowned, indicating that even when Londoners were enjoying themselves life was cheap, and could end at any moment. To live to the age of 55 was quite an achievement. This section of the book is the liveliest and most enjoyable in terms of variety, rather than shocking descriptions and statistics. It has four chapters on "Street Performance", "Leisure for all", "Feeding the Streets", and "Street theatre".
Judith Flanders goes into the accents and dialects used by different social groups. Her explanation of the vernacular in Dickens' works is fascinating. Charles Dickens is an author who revels in pronunciation, and invents specific idiolects for some characters, for instance Sairey Gamp (Mrs Gamp in "Martin Chuzzlwit".) Also, many readers local to London may assume that Dickens simply made a mistake in transposing the "v"s and "w"s in the character of Sam Weller in "The Pickwick Papers". This may seem puzzling, as Dickens knew London intimately. This book explains that some modes of speech and slang were only used for about a decade - and suddenly it all makes sense.
"Vom-us! I'm going to do the tightener [have my dinner]."
"Vom-us" is from the more familiar "vamoose", which is in turn from the Spanish "vamos", or "let's go". "Tightener" is just a colourful way of saying that when you eat well your clothes get tight!
Judith Flanders explains many Victorian London memes - catchphrases which went through a vogue - and also Cockney rhyming slang which is still used to this very day.
Victorians in London seemed to be the original "fast food generation". Few people had the facilities to cook at home, and most of the working class ate their food outside, bought from various vendors and carts. There are many references in Dickens to this, and also to "cook shops" where prepared food is taken to the shop and cooked in their ovens. In "David Copperfield", when Traddles visits, David's landlady goes to a cook shop to have their food cooked. Bakeries sometimes left their windows open, so that customers could reach in and grab a pastry and leave some money. And,
"A pie cost a penny, but all piemen were willing to toss a coin for one: if the customer won, he got the pie for free; if the pieman won, the pieman kept both pie and penny."
"There was even a trade in used tea leaves. In most households, after the tea had been made, the leaves were rinsed, dried and sprinkled on the carpets before sweeping, to help collect the dust. Once this had been done, some charwomen sold the leaves to unscrupulous dealers who mixed them with new tea leaves, selling the tea at bargain prices. It was these very women and their kind who were most likely to purchase the lowest-priced tea, and who were drinking what they had lately swept up."
"Today, eating out is more expensive than cooking at home, but in the 19th century the situation was reversed."
This is the time when most of the clubs and pubs were established - and some of them are there to this day.
But the section on animal markets is possibly the most upsetting in the book to a modern eye. The sheer brutality of treatment of both farm and wild animals in Smithfield market, where "Cruelty was the norm", beggars belief.
The final section, "Sleeping and Awake", is prefaced by an account of the 1852 funeral of the Duke of Wellington. It has just three chapters: "Night Entertainment", "Street Violence" and "The Red-Lit Streets to Death".
Judith Flanders has succeeded in her aim to show life on the streets of Dickens' London in colourful, fascinating detail. But perhaps it is a book to "dip into" rather than to read straight through. It is certainly difficult to retain the cornucopia of information contained in this book. It is also not advisable to read it on an ereader. The illustrations are fascinating and detailed, mostly contemporaneous drawings, maps, watercolours and etchings from the time, which need to be closely examined to be seen at their best advantage. The main text of the book also stops at 65%, the rest being footnotes, cross-references, endnotes and various lists. As mentioned before, in some ways it is more of an academic textbook.
Just as Dickens does, Judith Flanders makes quite a few assumptions. The book is very geographically specific, darting from one location to another, assuming a familarity with London which many of her readers will not have. It also assumes substantial foreknowledge of English history. The work is not chronological, but set out by theme. The ordering throughout is fairly random - as if the author spontaneously goes off at a tangent when another fact occurs to her. This can be rather confusing for the reader, to constantly switch between several different centuries.
Dickens assumed his readers were familiar with what he described. A modern author however, should not assume that in our rapidly expanding world all her readers interested in this book will be familiar with the details of London's topography - even down to the street names - and English history. It really is a "curate's egg". Parts of it do not flow well, or are of interest to many people. Some sections of the book are more entertaining than others - but different chapters will appeal to different people, so it is a difficult book to assess generally. The author's style for a general reader, not wishing to read an academic work, may seem on occasion rather dry.
For this reason, it has to be rated 3* overall: 4* for effort and research, and 2* for structure. There is a formidable amount of research, but just because something has a vast amount of detail, has been well researched and the author has spent a lot of time putting together quite a complete account, does not mean it is a pleasure to read. Often reading this book, a reader may feel they are flooded with information. At times it is almost as if the author didn't want to waste any of her valuable research, so just flung everything she had discovered into the book in a haphazard fashion. The book would have been far more enjoyable had it been edited more effectively.
For me, it was the sights and smells of the street which riveted my attention. It reminded me of the feeling I have when I read Dickens; the feeling that everything is larger than life. And this book provides glimpses into that world, a world of vibrancy and colour, but also a world of unimaginable squalor. Perhaps we are more inclined than we like to admit, to look through rose-tinted glasses at the Victorian age. This book is a revelation.
Yet whereas many authors concentrated on the middle classes, the gentry and the rich, Dickens was one of the few authors who had great sympathy for the poor. He wrote campaigning, persuasive fiction, in which many of his fully rounded characters were drawn from both the working and the middle classes. Perhaps if you have read his novels, to you "Dickensian" conjures up an image of grime and wretchedness, disease and abject poverty; of slums, workhouses, schools and prisons with "Dickensian conditions".
So which, if either, of these is a true picture of Victorian times? In his own time Charles Dickens was enormously popular, a flamboyant, larger-than-life, convivial character, equally loved both by Queen Victoria and the illiterate poorest of the poor, who would crowd into any space where his latest serialisations were being read aloud or dramatised for their entertainment. His works - melodramatic and humorous by turn - had immense appeal. And for those people of the time London was a hotch-potch of different sights, smells, and sounds. There was not one London but a myriad of different Londons according to your status and class, whether you were rich or poor, male or female. And if your view of Victorian London has up to now been a rose-tinted view, then this book will certainly disabuse you of that notion. It is a revelatory read about this sprawling city in Victorian times, warts and all.
During the nineteenth century the city of London burgeoned into the largest city in the world. From what had formerly been a Regency town it grew in a few short decades to be an immense mass of people, buildings, and the new railways. With Victoria's reign came the dawn of industrialisation; life was changing as never before. By the end of it, in this new metropolis, were grouped over 6.5 million people, most of whom spent most of their time in the streets. Judith Flanders shows in meticulous detail that despite all the changes, life was still lived, in the main, outside.
She maintains that Dickens appealed to everybody because he gave them a voyage into the unknown - into unfamiliar parts of London where they would not venture. For London was not even constant from year to year; the city was constantly changing and evolving, with the construction of the railways and sewers, new buildings shooting up everywhere, plus all the slum clearance. All was hustle and bustle; this was a city aways on the move. And Dickens was at the heart of everything, watching and recording what he saw.
Exactly two hundred years after he was born, in 2012, Judith Flanders published this book, The Victorian City: Everyday Life in Dickens' London following on from her earlier popular books on the Victorian house, Victorian crime and Victorian leisure. She approaches the book from the perspective of a social historian, trying capture all the variety and colour; life in the capital in all its vibrancy and its squalor. What brings this book to life, and also what makes this book unique, is that throughout she refers to the works of the great Charles Dickens. The book is peppered with examples, mostly from his novels, but also from his journalism and other writing. For a Dickens enthusiast, some parts are irresistible, adding depth to familiar situations and events.
"Dickens created London as much as London created Dickens."
Most biographies of Dickens concur that more than anything else, he was an observer of his city and his people. He himself seemed to recognise this. Judith Flanders says that Dickens,
"describes London like a special correspondent for posterity".
It was an inspiration to include the references to Dickens, as he was fascinated by London, and was so very knowledgeable about it. He would obsessively pace the city streets every day (at the speed of between 4 and 5 miles an hour) recording the slightest detail for use in his writing. So to read an account of the information behind his stories; information which would have been familar to his contemporaries but now seems strange or even weird, is very appealing. By using Dickens to illustrate the facts, Flanders can create a vivid picture of London during that time, and thus show both the differences and the similarilities with the present day.
The book is divided into four sections: "The City Wakes", "Staying Alive", "Enjoying Life", and "Sleeping and Awake". In this way, the author tries to loosely hold together the facts within. But the topics are very broad, and often what is described could fit into any of these sections. It is not a book which could easily be used as a reference book. To obvert this, Flanders has devoted many pages at the end to lists, appendices and "endnotes", many of which are fascinating in themselves, but are not everyone's chosen way of reading. It could be argued that incorporating these in the text would provide a smoother read, but then that would not address the problem of cross-referencing.
Judith Flanders says that she is attempting to,
"look at the streets of London as Dickens and his fellow Londoners saw it, to examine its workings, to take a walk, in effect through the city, as it appeared in Dickens' lifetime, from 1812 to 1870."
and to take her first steps on the walk she introduces a host of characters from chimney sweeps to midwives, representatives of most of the tradespeople of Victorian London, royalty and the church by a retelling of the 1810 Berner Street Hoax. This was an occasion when dozens of people were all summoned to one place by an eccentric joker who remained anonymous.
The players are now in position for the first Act, "The City Wakes" ...
This "First Act" contains four chapters. "Early to Rise", "On the Road", "Travelling" and "In and Out of London". There was no such thing as a "working day" in Victorian London. This was a city always on the move; even in the middle of the night people were trudging around. Perhaps they were going to work, perhaps returning from it. But everybody walked - and walked long distances to get to where they needed to be. The hours of work were by modern standards exhausting. A normal day could be four miles to walk to work, then a working day of twelve hours, followed by a four mile walk home. And this would be repeated six days a week.
In this section the reader gets the impression of a place of great noise and bustle, crowded with street hawkers, music and markets. Each day would start with many different types of roving street vendors shouting out the names of their wares, all according to different regular schedules. And throughout the day,
"Householders opened their doors, and screamed out "Muffins" with all their might,"
says Dickens. Judith Flanders even goes into how much it cost to buy each kind of food from every different kind of street vendor. Tightly packed streams of workers walked to and fro at all times of day. Many of the inhabitants complained that they never had any peace because of the constant roar of the streets. The streets were not only unbelievably noisy and crowded, but filthy with coal smoke, dung from the horse-drawn carriages wafted into the air, and the mud that was thrown up. Jo - or his equivalent in real life - the tragic crossing sweeper from "Bleak House", was known to everybody, doing his vital backbreaking work cleaning the same section of street every day. Yet he would be classed as a vagrant and eventually "moved on". Nobody ever thought to question, where to?
Since the main mode of transport was still horses (tens of thousands of them) drawing carts, there was a vast amount of horse dung deposited which needed to be removed. Feed needed to be brought in and stored, horses needed stabling, and eventually their carcasses had to be disposed of. Judith Flanders describes all this, going into details about slaughter houses and glue factories, and the incredible stench and pollution of the city which resulted.
The obvious difference between lifestyles of the rich and poor come through in every detail. Lighting on cabs and carriages was essential. Grand balls and the "season" for the wealthy ran very late, until 3am at the earliest, often far later. By the time the rich aristocracy were travelling home in their cabriolets, the lamplighters of Victorian London would be beginning to light the much needed gaslights. There is also a detailed description of the different methods of transport, omnibuses, and all the many accidents. The descriptions of "commuting" may help a reader to put things in perspective when grumbling about modern day traffic jams, which bear no relation to the horrors of riding the newly introduced omnibuses in Victorian London.
Judith Flanders carefully chronicles the various forms of road surfacing such as - surprisingly - wood. There are a dozen pages on macadam road surfacing. There is also a section about which waterways used to flow into the Thames, which seems a little tedious. However, others may find these technical details very interesting.
The next section, "Staying Alive" begins with 1861's Tooley Street Fire, and also contains 4 chapters: "The World's Market", "Selling the Streets", "Slumming", and "The Waters of Death". Chapters on air pollution, over-capacity graveyards, and the vast cesspool underlying London are a shocking and depressing read. On almost every page there is a startling fact or statistic - sometimes a revelation - which makes the reader stop in their tracks for a while to try to absorb some of the flood of information.
"Previously, the rich and poor had lived in the same districts; the rich in the main streets, the poor in the service streets behind. As London expanded ... the houses of the poor were demolished ... their residents were forced into ... slums."
The result of people crowded into spaces far too small for them was inevitable. The author gives an example of many families all living around one courtyard, with only only toilet between all the people, who numbered over a hundred. The stench grew and grew, and eventually in an incredible knee-jerk response to the outcry, the toilet was destroyed! The people then had nowhere else to go to defecate, except in the streets, or in the Thames. All the objections about the smell and filthy conditions led to the clearance of the slums; a horrific catalogue of suffering, as it was done without a thought for where people could move to.
Sometimes the rich didn't seem to even know of the poor's existence, because toll gates kept one side apart from another, even though they were in close proximity. Today in London there are a mere handful of tolls. But in Dickens' London there were well over a hundred. Ironically questions were raised in Parliament three times about reducing the number, but this resulted in the number soaring - because it was to the Corporation of London's benefit.
For a large part of the century almost every building was perched over a cesspool of sewage. Those lucky enough to sleep under cover - and frequently there would be dozens of people crammed into one room to sleep - would be in a house where the only place to put human excrement was the cellar, or to tip it into the Thames. Cellars were regularly filled up with human waste. Joseph Bazalgette was a pioneer of civil engineering, who introduced the sewer network for central London in response to the "Great Stink" of 1858. This began the cleansing of the river Thames, and put an end to the outbreak of cholera epidemics. Although most readers have probably heard of Joseph Bazalgette, this book really brings home the immense difference his innovations made. Sometimes the reader wonders how anyone could survive living in London at all.
The descriptions of the graveyards are an eyeopener. London did not know what to do with the sheer number of corpses since the population explosion. Graveyards were not the restful and peaceful places they now are, but were piled high with corpses. Starting off as pits in the ground, they were gradually built up and up until they were higher than an average person. And corpses regularly broke the surface. This book does give you an insight into the stench and putrefaction there must have been.
The third section, "Enjoying Life", begins with the 1867 Regent's Park Skating Disaster, where many people fell through the ice and drowned, indicating that even when Londoners were enjoying themselves life was cheap, and could end at any moment. To live to the age of 55 was quite an achievement. This section of the book is the liveliest and most enjoyable in terms of variety, rather than shocking descriptions and statistics. It has four chapters on "Street Performance", "Leisure for all", "Feeding the Streets", and "Street theatre".
Judith Flanders goes into the accents and dialects used by different social groups. Her explanation of the vernacular in Dickens' works is fascinating. Charles Dickens is an author who revels in pronunciation, and invents specific idiolects for some characters, for instance Sairey Gamp (Mrs Gamp in "Martin Chuzzlwit".) Also, many readers local to London may assume that Dickens simply made a mistake in transposing the "v"s and "w"s in the character of Sam Weller in "The Pickwick Papers". This may seem puzzling, as Dickens knew London intimately. This book explains that some modes of speech and slang were only used for about a decade - and suddenly it all makes sense.
"Vom-us! I'm going to do the tightener [have my dinner]."
"Vom-us" is from the more familiar "vamoose", which is in turn from the Spanish "vamos", or "let's go". "Tightener" is just a colourful way of saying that when you eat well your clothes get tight!
Judith Flanders explains many Victorian London memes - catchphrases which went through a vogue - and also Cockney rhyming slang which is still used to this very day.
Victorians in London seemed to be the original "fast food generation". Few people had the facilities to cook at home, and most of the working class ate their food outside, bought from various vendors and carts. There are many references in Dickens to this, and also to "cook shops" where prepared food is taken to the shop and cooked in their ovens. In "David Copperfield", when Traddles visits, David's landlady goes to a cook shop to have their food cooked. Bakeries sometimes left their windows open, so that customers could reach in and grab a pastry and leave some money. And,
"A pie cost a penny, but all piemen were willing to toss a coin for one: if the customer won, he got the pie for free; if the pieman won, the pieman kept both pie and penny."
"There was even a trade in used tea leaves. In most households, after the tea had been made, the leaves were rinsed, dried and sprinkled on the carpets before sweeping, to help collect the dust. Once this had been done, some charwomen sold the leaves to unscrupulous dealers who mixed them with new tea leaves, selling the tea at bargain prices. It was these very women and their kind who were most likely to purchase the lowest-priced tea, and who were drinking what they had lately swept up."
"Today, eating out is more expensive than cooking at home, but in the 19th century the situation was reversed."
This is the time when most of the clubs and pubs were established - and some of them are there to this day.
But the section on animal markets is possibly the most upsetting in the book to a modern eye. The sheer brutality of treatment of both farm and wild animals in Smithfield market, where "Cruelty was the norm", beggars belief.
The final section, "Sleeping and Awake", is prefaced by an account of the 1852 funeral of the Duke of Wellington. It has just three chapters: "Night Entertainment", "Street Violence" and "The Red-Lit Streets to Death".
Judith Flanders has succeeded in her aim to show life on the streets of Dickens' London in colourful, fascinating detail. But perhaps it is a book to "dip into" rather than to read straight through. It is certainly difficult to retain the cornucopia of information contained in this book. It is also not advisable to read it on an ereader. The illustrations are fascinating and detailed, mostly contemporaneous drawings, maps, watercolours and etchings from the time, which need to be closely examined to be seen at their best advantage. The main text of the book also stops at 65%, the rest being footnotes, cross-references, endnotes and various lists. As mentioned before, in some ways it is more of an academic textbook.
Just as Dickens does, Judith Flanders makes quite a few assumptions. The book is very geographically specific, darting from one location to another, assuming a familarity with London which many of her readers will not have. It also assumes substantial foreknowledge of English history. The work is not chronological, but set out by theme. The ordering throughout is fairly random - as if the author spontaneously goes off at a tangent when another fact occurs to her. This can be rather confusing for the reader, to constantly switch between several different centuries.
Dickens assumed his readers were familiar with what he described. A modern author however, should not assume that in our rapidly expanding world all her readers interested in this book will be familiar with the details of London's topography - even down to the street names - and English history. It really is a "curate's egg". Parts of it do not flow well, or are of interest to many people. Some sections of the book are more entertaining than others - but different chapters will appeal to different people, so it is a difficult book to assess generally. The author's style for a general reader, not wishing to read an academic work, may seem on occasion rather dry.
For this reason, it has to be rated 3* overall: 4* for effort and research, and 2* for structure. There is a formidable amount of research, but just because something has a vast amount of detail, has been well researched and the author has spent a lot of time putting together quite a complete account, does not mean it is a pleasure to read. Often reading this book, a reader may feel they are flooded with information. At times it is almost as if the author didn't want to waste any of her valuable research, so just flung everything she had discovered into the book in a haphazard fashion. The book would have been far more enjoyable had it been edited more effectively.
For me, it was the sights and smells of the street which riveted my attention. It reminded me of the feeling I have when I read Dickens; the feeling that everything is larger than life. And this book provides glimpses into that world, a world of vibrancy and colour, but also a world of unimaginable squalor. Perhaps we are more inclined than we like to admit, to look through rose-tinted glasses at the Victorian age. This book is a revelation.
August 27, 2017
O London! City of famous fogs, pea-soupers, the London particular, a choking of the throat and cayenne pepper in the eyes and stepping gingerly along the street you must feel the walls as you goes or you shall tumble into somebody’s cellar for sure, and all the pickpockets glad for the bad days, and Parliament forced to bring in a Purification of the Thames Act from the sheer stink of it lapping at their grand doors. And the smoke from the house fires, 644 in 1848, and that a mild year. 239 killed, not counting children. Who counts the children?
O London! City of clogged streets, stogged roads, impassable thoroughfares jammed with barouches, cabriolets, broughams, toll gates, barrows, the brewers and their giant dray horses, hackney cabs, omnibuses, handcarts, horses falling, people falling, three or four dead per week on average, linkboys, street sellers, sweeps, dustmen, watercress girls, everything and everybody for sale, chamois leathers, trivets, blackleading, snuff, knives to grind sir? - every street a market; o infarcted bilious capital city.
O London! City of shrieks, cries and bellows, the barking of dogs, the street trader yodels, the howling rowling yowling of Smithfield slaughtered oxen, pigs, goats and sheep, the squawking of chickens and parrots in cages to buy, the shouting quarrelling disputatious roiling of the people, the pushing driving whooping harrying of the drovers rushing their animals through the narrow streets (mad bull found in tripe shop!); o hideous and discordant city.
O London! City of practical men! How you know what to do with an old horse! Sell the flesh to the catsmeat man; the tongue, heart and kidneys to a butcher that you may know of, the manes and tails to the upholsterers, the hooves to the glue-makers, the shoes and nails to the blacksmiths, the fat for axle grease, the skins to the tanners and the bones for buttons for vests.
O London! City of reeks and stenches from the slaughterhouses, from the excremental assault of humans and animals, so many horses they can’t be counted, and from the noticeable olfactory efflorescence of the hoi polloi; and from coal dust everywhere, and from Billingsgate, largest fish market in the world; and from the Thames, the old brown swill of the Thames; o noxious nauseous city.
O London! City of cruelty, jamming animals together and handling them with dreadful ferocity at Smithfield, that infamous place, and murdering animals by the thousand week after week until the streets run with a liquid poultice of mud and offal and blood and the shit of all these animals too, ankle deep, ankle deep, and the animals bellowing in agony, and the scandal talked of so many times in Parliament, and nothing done; and not just animals, no : “the deceased died from want of the common necessities of life and exposure to the cold. Name unknown. Age about 50”; and cock fighting advertised in The TIMES. And animal baiting a favourite – bulls, bears, badgers – you lay your bet on how long the dog will last against the bear until it’s dead or injured, that’s where the fun lies. It’s sixpence admission, Mondays and Thursdays. Only twice a week. Gives the bear a chance to heal up. No women allowed. O rhinoskinned indifferent city.
O London! City of delight, drinking, debauchery, delectation – be careful to avoid the ring-droppers and pea and thimble sharpers and watch your handkerchief, and your watch now. O the gin palaces, with their blinding gaslighting, right there in the slums, such glamour, serving gin to people deciding between food and oblivion, with oblivion winning most nights.
O London! City of the swirling demonic delightful torrent of ordinary extraordinariness : in the middle of the mire and carriages and markets and hustle, right there on the street, the Punch and Judy men, the animal acts (those we do not kill and eat we wish to entertain us), tumblers, brass bands parading about, buskers, fiddlers with a dancing girl, but most common, street organists, a bugger to lug, and sometimes, the marmoset played and the boy danced, and sometimes, the other way about. Fantoccini, raree shows and the Cackler Dance where she will skip lightly, madam and miss, between 24 eggs, if you please. But now let us eat winkles and drink ginger beer, we are tired. Let’s find a chop-house or a slap-bang. Waiter, bring that gentleman’s kidneys. Look alive there, brisk now. Sir, a copy of the song just now sung? Thanks you – now give me your orders! Here’s to the maid who will take in her hand which she longs for in her heart.
Oysters – legendary as the poor man’s food! Imagine that. Sam Weller says : Poverty and oysters always seem to go together…the poorer a place is, the greater call there seems to be for oysters. Blessed if I don’t think that when a man’s very poor, he rushes out of his lodgings and eats oysters in regular desperation.
O London! City of delusion and rumour – did you hear there is to be a horrible earthquake on 16 March 1842 and all will be dashed in pieces? St Paul’s Cathedral has already sunk five foot! Go and see if I’m wrong. And when we see the Prince Regent on the street, as sometimes we do, we shout at him : “You damned rascal, where’s your wife?” And seven assassination attempts against Queen Victoria. Among the connoisseurs of executions, it is considered that the Horsemonger Lane gaol affords the best viewing places.
O London! City of slums and of those who fecklessly indigent refuse to support themselves and yet breed like vermin, expecting the provident to find them the vittles, shoes and furbelows they’ve drunk all away, and a cup or three of Turkish coffee while you’re about it. Get thee to Fleet, and Clerkenwell, and if that will not suit then the Marshalsea is always welcoming, or the Spitalfields workhouse, bound by law to pinch your toes, there’s eight to ten persons a bed there, sleeping head to feet, if you call that sleep at all. They’ll sleep when they’re dead. Practical, money-making city, delirious, appalling, fuliginous, oneiric, the wonder and the centre of the world.
O London! City of clogged streets, stogged roads, impassable thoroughfares jammed with barouches, cabriolets, broughams, toll gates, barrows, the brewers and their giant dray horses, hackney cabs, omnibuses, handcarts, horses falling, people falling, three or four dead per week on average, linkboys, street sellers, sweeps, dustmen, watercress girls, everything and everybody for sale, chamois leathers, trivets, blackleading, snuff, knives to grind sir? - every street a market; o infarcted bilious capital city.
O London! City of shrieks, cries and bellows, the barking of dogs, the street trader yodels, the howling rowling yowling of Smithfield slaughtered oxen, pigs, goats and sheep, the squawking of chickens and parrots in cages to buy, the shouting quarrelling disputatious roiling of the people, the pushing driving whooping harrying of the drovers rushing their animals through the narrow streets (mad bull found in tripe shop!); o hideous and discordant city.
O London! City of practical men! How you know what to do with an old horse! Sell the flesh to the catsmeat man; the tongue, heart and kidneys to a butcher that you may know of, the manes and tails to the upholsterers, the hooves to the glue-makers, the shoes and nails to the blacksmiths, the fat for axle grease, the skins to the tanners and the bones for buttons for vests.
O London! City of reeks and stenches from the slaughterhouses, from the excremental assault of humans and animals, so many horses they can’t be counted, and from the noticeable olfactory efflorescence of the hoi polloi; and from coal dust everywhere, and from Billingsgate, largest fish market in the world; and from the Thames, the old brown swill of the Thames; o noxious nauseous city.
O London! City of cruelty, jamming animals together and handling them with dreadful ferocity at Smithfield, that infamous place, and murdering animals by the thousand week after week until the streets run with a liquid poultice of mud and offal and blood and the shit of all these animals too, ankle deep, ankle deep, and the animals bellowing in agony, and the scandal talked of so many times in Parliament, and nothing done; and not just animals, no : “the deceased died from want of the common necessities of life and exposure to the cold. Name unknown. Age about 50”; and cock fighting advertised in The TIMES. And animal baiting a favourite – bulls, bears, badgers – you lay your bet on how long the dog will last against the bear until it’s dead or injured, that’s where the fun lies. It’s sixpence admission, Mondays and Thursdays. Only twice a week. Gives the bear a chance to heal up. No women allowed. O rhinoskinned indifferent city.
O London! City of delight, drinking, debauchery, delectation – be careful to avoid the ring-droppers and pea and thimble sharpers and watch your handkerchief, and your watch now. O the gin palaces, with their blinding gaslighting, right there in the slums, such glamour, serving gin to people deciding between food and oblivion, with oblivion winning most nights.
O London! City of the swirling demonic delightful torrent of ordinary extraordinariness : in the middle of the mire and carriages and markets and hustle, right there on the street, the Punch and Judy men, the animal acts (those we do not kill and eat we wish to entertain us), tumblers, brass bands parading about, buskers, fiddlers with a dancing girl, but most common, street organists, a bugger to lug, and sometimes, the marmoset played and the boy danced, and sometimes, the other way about. Fantoccini, raree shows and the Cackler Dance where she will skip lightly, madam and miss, between 24 eggs, if you please. But now let us eat winkles and drink ginger beer, we are tired. Let’s find a chop-house or a slap-bang. Waiter, bring that gentleman’s kidneys. Look alive there, brisk now. Sir, a copy of the song just now sung? Thanks you – now give me your orders! Here’s to the maid who will take in her hand which she longs for in her heart.
Oysters – legendary as the poor man’s food! Imagine that. Sam Weller says : Poverty and oysters always seem to go together…the poorer a place is, the greater call there seems to be for oysters. Blessed if I don’t think that when a man’s very poor, he rushes out of his lodgings and eats oysters in regular desperation.
O London! City of delusion and rumour – did you hear there is to be a horrible earthquake on 16 March 1842 and all will be dashed in pieces? St Paul’s Cathedral has already sunk five foot! Go and see if I’m wrong. And when we see the Prince Regent on the street, as sometimes we do, we shout at him : “You damned rascal, where’s your wife?” And seven assassination attempts against Queen Victoria. Among the connoisseurs of executions, it is considered that the Horsemonger Lane gaol affords the best viewing places.
O London! City of slums and of those who fecklessly indigent refuse to support themselves and yet breed like vermin, expecting the provident to find them the vittles, shoes and furbelows they’ve drunk all away, and a cup or three of Turkish coffee while you’re about it. Get thee to Fleet, and Clerkenwell, and if that will not suit then the Marshalsea is always welcoming, or the Spitalfields workhouse, bound by law to pinch your toes, there’s eight to ten persons a bed there, sleeping head to feet, if you call that sleep at all. They’ll sleep when they’re dead. Practical, money-making city, delirious, appalling, fuliginous, oneiric, the wonder and the centre of the world.
May 28, 2017
THE VICTORIAN CITY is a meticulously researched and very detailed book about London life during the time Charles Dickens walked its streets. The focus is mainly on the mechanics of daily life, and it gives an in depth look at everything, from how the streets were paved to the little amount of water each family had to take care of all their needs. This book puts you there, surrounded by the constant movement and bothersome noise.
The author blends in snippets from Dickens' work to show where his inspirations came from. In truth I haven't read much Dickens, maybe just A Christmas Carol years ago, but I love historical fiction set in the Victorian times, so I was interested in learning more. The book could be a bit dry at times, but also eye-opening. Made me appreciate living in modern times even more.
Audiobook • 16 hrs, 5 mins • Corrie James, Narrator
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Corrie James, and I thought that she was a good fit for this book. Even though this is nonfiction, she was able to add inflection and flair in the reading, especially with the voices of the different Londoners.
Disclosure: I received a copy of this audiobook from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
The author blends in snippets from Dickens' work to show where his inspirations came from. In truth I haven't read much Dickens, maybe just A Christmas Carol years ago, but I love historical fiction set in the Victorian times, so I was interested in learning more. The book could be a bit dry at times, but also eye-opening. Made me appreciate living in modern times even more.
Audiobook • 16 hrs, 5 mins • Corrie James, Narrator
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Corrie James, and I thought that she was a good fit for this book. Even though this is nonfiction, she was able to add inflection and flair in the reading, especially with the voices of the different Londoners.
Disclosure: I received a copy of this audiobook from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
July 25, 2022
This was a mostly fascinating and largely detailed insight into life in London when Charles Dickens was alive. I love anything to do with the Victorian era, so this beautiful hardback book was exactly what I needed.
The book concentrates on the daily lives of the people that lived there, from ways of making a living, means of entertainment, and even transport. Little snippets from Dickens works were included in here, showing the reader just how he gathered his inspiration. I actually found this to be most helpful, and has reminded me that I need to read more from Dickens someday very soon.
The main focus of the book is on the working class and the poor, which is why Dickens is referenced so much, as he used what he saw in London for a lot of his novels. There are parts on the richer families, but not a lot.
Throughout the book there are black and white images and colour images included, and I think this is a wonderful addition to an already fascinating book. I could literally sit and look at photographs of Victorian London all day.
The only quibble I do have, is that Flanders talks like everyone that reads this book knows London like the back of their hand, when obviously, that simply isn't the case. This is grand for a person that lives in or knows London well enough, but otherwise, one might need to do a little research.
The book concentrates on the daily lives of the people that lived there, from ways of making a living, means of entertainment, and even transport. Little snippets from Dickens works were included in here, showing the reader just how he gathered his inspiration. I actually found this to be most helpful, and has reminded me that I need to read more from Dickens someday very soon.
The main focus of the book is on the working class and the poor, which is why Dickens is referenced so much, as he used what he saw in London for a lot of his novels. There are parts on the richer families, but not a lot.
Throughout the book there are black and white images and colour images included, and I think this is a wonderful addition to an already fascinating book. I could literally sit and look at photographs of Victorian London all day.
The only quibble I do have, is that Flanders talks like everyone that reads this book knows London like the back of their hand, when obviously, that simply isn't the case. This is grand for a person that lives in or knows London well enough, but otherwise, one might need to do a little research.
October 19, 2020
I thought this a very interesting, well researched book about London during the Victorian times. Perhaps how London evolved is a better description. The book was engaging, easy to get through and full of details.
The author uses many resources, most notably is Charles Dickens, but she also quotes the Prime Minister, and a philosopher among others (I’ve forgotten the names) and countless journalists and newspaper articles. (Dickens is not featured exclusively by any means).
The topics range from home and working life, funeral processions, animal fighting for gambling/sport, gas lighting, supper clubs, the streets, transportation, advertising, duels, executions... etc.
The novel gives some examples of all the classes, but the majority of the book is focused on the working class and the poor. Here is where she uses Dickens for reference. Dickens was a champion of the poor and working class, which is why he does feature as he was a study of people and wrote about what he saw. I’m glad to have not read as much Dickens as I’d like as I’ll really look at his novels in a new light after reading this. It seems like his novels may be fictionalized stories of real life.
I do intend to read more by the author.
The author uses many resources, most notably is Charles Dickens, but she also quotes the Prime Minister, and a philosopher among others (I’ve forgotten the names) and countless journalists and newspaper articles. (Dickens is not featured exclusively by any means).
The topics range from home and working life, funeral processions, animal fighting for gambling/sport, gas lighting, supper clubs, the streets, transportation, advertising, duels, executions... etc.
The novel gives some examples of all the classes, but the majority of the book is focused on the working class and the poor. Here is where she uses Dickens for reference. Dickens was a champion of the poor and working class, which is why he does feature as he was a study of people and wrote about what he saw. I’m glad to have not read as much Dickens as I’d like as I’ll really look at his novels in a new light after reading this. It seems like his novels may be fictionalized stories of real life.
I do intend to read more by the author.
May 25, 2015
What I learned from reading this book is that Charles Dickens really was an extraordinary writer, in that he wrote what he knew and wrote it convincingly. He sort of has a bad rep for being a bore by modern readers' standards, and there's a fine enough argument there. But when you really take the time to pay attention to the detail he included in his books and stories about the people, the city, the food, the smells, the sounds... he nailed it.
This was a great book for a regular Joe Schmoe, an everyday reader, to appreciate. There's nothing especially difficult or pretentious about reading this book, so if you're into Dickens and his contemporaries and want to take the knowledge you're gaining by reading his books to a whole new level, this is a great supplementary read.
Flanders talks about a variety of different topics involving the London Charles Dickens knew and (arguably) loved. My favorite, strangely, was about transportation. Maybe because I am a mass transit rider myself, and I've done my fair share of bitching because the Port Authority buses are down, or stink, or make scary noises, or the drivers sometimes appear to be driving under the influence; but that chapter especially spoke to me, and showed me that, shit, I have nothing to really complain about.
That was really the impression I carried throughout the book. They ate what now? They smelled what? These are things I've know because, again, I've read Dickens, but when you take it out of a fictional account and put it in light of Holy shit guys, this really was what it was like, it puts things into major perspective.
At times a bit meandering, overall I enjoyed the read. The color plates and the black and white images throughout were a fantastic addition, and that's what can make or break a nonfiction book for me a lot of the time. The back flap of the book says Flanders is "one of the foremost social historians of the Victorian era" which I think is one of the coolest labels one could be given and I think, based on this one book, a very apt one.
One word of warning: Flanders is from London and she occasionally writes as though all of her readers knows exactly where and what she's talking about. This would be great for a local London reader, but for me - a poor soul living in fucking Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - I don't need it rubbed in that London is waiting for me to visit. I don't need to see references like "This is where Whole Foods is now." That doesn't mean much to me. However, I suppose if someone wrote a book this informative about Pittsburgh, I'd be all over those local references, so whatever - I'm just being crabby about the fact that I don't live in London which is truly unfair.
This was a great book for a regular Joe Schmoe, an everyday reader, to appreciate. There's nothing especially difficult or pretentious about reading this book, so if you're into Dickens and his contemporaries and want to take the knowledge you're gaining by reading his books to a whole new level, this is a great supplementary read.
Flanders talks about a variety of different topics involving the London Charles Dickens knew and (arguably) loved. My favorite, strangely, was about transportation. Maybe because I am a mass transit rider myself, and I've done my fair share of bitching because the Port Authority buses are down, or stink, or make scary noises, or the drivers sometimes appear to be driving under the influence; but that chapter especially spoke to me, and showed me that, shit, I have nothing to really complain about.
That was really the impression I carried throughout the book. They ate what now? They smelled what? These are things I've know because, again, I've read Dickens, but when you take it out of a fictional account and put it in light of Holy shit guys, this really was what it was like, it puts things into major perspective.
At times a bit meandering, overall I enjoyed the read. The color plates and the black and white images throughout were a fantastic addition, and that's what can make or break a nonfiction book for me a lot of the time. The back flap of the book says Flanders is "one of the foremost social historians of the Victorian era" which I think is one of the coolest labels one could be given and I think, based on this one book, a very apt one.
One word of warning: Flanders is from London and she occasionally writes as though all of her readers knows exactly where and what she's talking about. This would be great for a local London reader, but for me - a poor soul living in fucking Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - I don't need it rubbed in that London is waiting for me to visit. I don't need to see references like "This is where Whole Foods is now." That doesn't mean much to me. However, I suppose if someone wrote a book this informative about Pittsburgh, I'd be all over those local references, so whatever - I'm just being crabby about the fact that I don't live in London which is truly unfair.
May 4, 2015
I can't recommend this one more. A fascinating read.
For a further review: http://susannag.booklikes.com/post/11... .
For a further review: http://susannag.booklikes.com/post/11... .
June 14, 2021
This is an incredibly detailed look at life in London during Dickens lifetime with plenty of references to his novels and other writings. I particularly enjoyed the chapters on how ordinary people lived and worked, the access to food and water, how they travelled (lots of walking!), sanitation, disease etc. I found it a bit too much detail to read in one go and definitely a great reference to dip in and out of.
April 10, 2021
Judith Flanders looked at London in the 19th Century using scenes from Dickens' works to illustrate her research. Dickens loved to walk many miles each day, observing the street life and getting ideas for his literary sketches and novels.
The Victorian era was a time of change in London with the population exploding, and the advent of industrialization, the railroads, and gas lighting. The book shows life on the streets with people walking many miles to work before putting in long hours on the job. Few people had facilities for cooking at home so most of their food was bought from street vendors, eaten at pubs, or baked at cook shops. The streets were noisy places with vendors hawking their wares, street musicians, and other entertainment. The streets were also dirty and dangerous as pedestrians dodged horses and carriages, and had to contend with mud and horse dung. Smoke from coal fires polluted the air, especially during the cold months of the year.
The book describes the markets with their vivid colors, commotion, crowded conditions, and smells. The brutality of the animal markets was one of the most disturbing parts of the book.
Dickens was an advocate for the poor, and the book tells about crowded slums with limited access to water pumps, and deplorable sanitary facilities. Until sewers were built in the latter half of the 19th Century, excrement was present in cellars, the rivers, and the streets. The poor were often hungry, and had to turn to prostitution or spend time in the workhouse. If they were caught stealing, they could be deported to Australia for years of hard labor. People who ran up debts could be sent to debtor's prison, a subject in some of Dickens' novels.
Life could also be fun and entertaining. The book has sections about public squares, the parks, ice skating, picnics, street performances, theater, and friendly gatherings at pubs.
Flanders has described Victorian London in fine detail. The maps, drawings, photographs, and other illustrations were helpful and interesting. There are parts of the book that describe changes in the streets, the tolls, and the rivers in great detail that may be of interest to Londoners, but not to the general reader. There are also some sections where she could have presented a composite view of an idea instead of including so many similar individual instances of research. However, the book was definitely informative, and entertaining and humorous in many sections. It is sure to enhance my reading of the works of Dickens and other authors who wrote during Victorian times. The author has also written books about the Victorian home and other Victorian topics that are not covered in this book.
The Victorian era was a time of change in London with the population exploding, and the advent of industrialization, the railroads, and gas lighting. The book shows life on the streets with people walking many miles to work before putting in long hours on the job. Few people had facilities for cooking at home so most of their food was bought from street vendors, eaten at pubs, or baked at cook shops. The streets were noisy places with vendors hawking their wares, street musicians, and other entertainment. The streets were also dirty and dangerous as pedestrians dodged horses and carriages, and had to contend with mud and horse dung. Smoke from coal fires polluted the air, especially during the cold months of the year.
The book describes the markets with their vivid colors, commotion, crowded conditions, and smells. The brutality of the animal markets was one of the most disturbing parts of the book.
Dickens was an advocate for the poor, and the book tells about crowded slums with limited access to water pumps, and deplorable sanitary facilities. Until sewers were built in the latter half of the 19th Century, excrement was present in cellars, the rivers, and the streets. The poor were often hungry, and had to turn to prostitution or spend time in the workhouse. If they were caught stealing, they could be deported to Australia for years of hard labor. People who ran up debts could be sent to debtor's prison, a subject in some of Dickens' novels.
Life could also be fun and entertaining. The book has sections about public squares, the parks, ice skating, picnics, street performances, theater, and friendly gatherings at pubs.
Flanders has described Victorian London in fine detail. The maps, drawings, photographs, and other illustrations were helpful and interesting. There are parts of the book that describe changes in the streets, the tolls, and the rivers in great detail that may be of interest to Londoners, but not to the general reader. There are also some sections where she could have presented a composite view of an idea instead of including so many similar individual instances of research. However, the book was definitely informative, and entertaining and humorous in many sections. It is sure to enhance my reading of the works of Dickens and other authors who wrote during Victorian times. The author has also written books about the Victorian home and other Victorian topics that are not covered in this book.
July 6, 2014
Having looked at the Victorian house, Victorian crime and Victorian leisure in previous books, the author now turns her attention to the Victorian city. In particular, London during the time of Dickens', using his journalism and novels to illustrate her own book. Judith Flanders makes an important point that today the word 'Dickensian' often refers to squalor - such as the term 'Dickensian conditions' - whereas in his own time the author was more often seen as convivial and often humorous. As anyone will know who has read any biography of the great man, what Dickens was, more than anything, was an observer of his city and his people. In this book, Flanders attempts to create a picture of London during that time and to show the differences and similarilities with now.
One of the main impressions I came away with from the book is that London was much busier then than our present time - if that is possible! When the author recreates the working day, it showed that even in the middle of the night people were trudging around, either going to work or returning from it. Another major difference is that most people walked fairly long distances to get to and from places. In her section about the city itself, she covers all elements, from the methods of transport, accidents, commuting and even what the roads were surfaced in. She presents a place of immense noise and bustle, with street hawkers, markets, music and crowds, in which many of the inhabitants complained of never having any peace from the constant roar of the streets.
Other sections of the book look at how people lived, enjoyed themselves and the city at night. I learnt that markets and public houses had to close during church services, something I had not been aware of before, and a whole host of other interesting and informative facts. London during Dickens' time was always on the move. As the population increased, slum dwellings (or rookery's) began to grow, with workhouses and prisons visible presences in the city. Poverty led to many ingenious ways to make things cheapest for the very poorest. Public houses had a 'saveall' to collect dregs from glasses to be sold cheaply, or given away, for instance. My very favourite was the fact that you could have newspapers delivered, or 'rent' them - if that was too expensive for you, you could rent the previous days paper for an even cheaper price. Still, the author looks carefully at the poverty and injustice Dickens' was famous for exposing and also looks at life expectancy, public water pumps, illness and epidemics and the links between crime and poverty.
London was not always so dark and depressing and her vivid descriptions of London at night, with public houses, theatres, street organs, parks and public spaces are fascinating. I have lived in London all my life, but was never aware of the work on Trafalgar Square, for instance, which went on for so long that hardly anybody could muster any enthusiasm when the lions were finally installed - only a handful of men witnessing they arrival in the capital. There are interesting digressions into royalty, food, street violence and fascinating accounts of public executions. For Dickens' his city was a place that encompassed all life, and leaving London and leaving life one and the same. Flanders does a wonderful job of recreating that time and of relating it always to Dickens' London and his work. If you have an interest in Victorian London or the work of Charles Dickens, this will be a must read. Lastly, I read the kindle edition of this book and it contained illustrations.
One of the main impressions I came away with from the book is that London was much busier then than our present time - if that is possible! When the author recreates the working day, it showed that even in the middle of the night people were trudging around, either going to work or returning from it. Another major difference is that most people walked fairly long distances to get to and from places. In her section about the city itself, she covers all elements, from the methods of transport, accidents, commuting and even what the roads were surfaced in. She presents a place of immense noise and bustle, with street hawkers, markets, music and crowds, in which many of the inhabitants complained of never having any peace from the constant roar of the streets.
Other sections of the book look at how people lived, enjoyed themselves and the city at night. I learnt that markets and public houses had to close during church services, something I had not been aware of before, and a whole host of other interesting and informative facts. London during Dickens' time was always on the move. As the population increased, slum dwellings (or rookery's) began to grow, with workhouses and prisons visible presences in the city. Poverty led to many ingenious ways to make things cheapest for the very poorest. Public houses had a 'saveall' to collect dregs from glasses to be sold cheaply, or given away, for instance. My very favourite was the fact that you could have newspapers delivered, or 'rent' them - if that was too expensive for you, you could rent the previous days paper for an even cheaper price. Still, the author looks carefully at the poverty and injustice Dickens' was famous for exposing and also looks at life expectancy, public water pumps, illness and epidemics and the links between crime and poverty.
London was not always so dark and depressing and her vivid descriptions of London at night, with public houses, theatres, street organs, parks and public spaces are fascinating. I have lived in London all my life, but was never aware of the work on Trafalgar Square, for instance, which went on for so long that hardly anybody could muster any enthusiasm when the lions were finally installed - only a handful of men witnessing they arrival in the capital. There are interesting digressions into royalty, food, street violence and fascinating accounts of public executions. For Dickens' his city was a place that encompassed all life, and leaving London and leaving life one and the same. Flanders does a wonderful job of recreating that time and of relating it always to Dickens' London and his work. If you have an interest in Victorian London or the work of Charles Dickens, this will be a must read. Lastly, I read the kindle edition of this book and it contained illustrations.
May 12, 2015
Dickens' London by way of Howard Zinn, this book focuses exclusively on the middle and lower classes in mid-1800s London. That's a good thing.
There are a couple of things you pick up on from books like this. The first is that some things never change; the second is that some things do get better.
So we find out that Victorian London had their own memes: "There he goes with his eye out!" And everyone has always been sure that things were better in the old days and we're going to hell now.
But we also see how much longer people had to work back then, for less money; how shitty their food was; how they got executed for gay sex sometimes. Seriously, we are getting better. Slowly.
The question is, will you learn more about Victorian London from this book than from just reading Dickens? Yes, you will. Not a ton more, but a little. If you're interested in Dickens' London, this is good supplemental material. I mean, read Dickens first. But go ahead and read this eventually.
There are a couple of things you pick up on from books like this. The first is that some things never change; the second is that some things do get better.
So we find out that Victorian London had their own memes: "There he goes with his eye out!" And everyone has always been sure that things were better in the old days and we're going to hell now.
But we also see how much longer people had to work back then, for less money; how shitty their food was; how they got executed for gay sex sometimes. Seriously, we are getting better. Slowly.
The question is, will you learn more about Victorian London from this book than from just reading Dickens? Yes, you will. Not a ton more, but a little. If you're interested in Dickens' London, this is good supplemental material. I mean, read Dickens first. But go ahead and read this eventually.
Read
February 2, 2015Every time I read a book about what living during some period of history was like, I tend to come to the realization that the past was very peculiar indeed. This book was no exception.
Also, stagecoaches sound super uncomfortable.
Also, stagecoaches sound super uncomfortable.
September 10, 2022
Good God was this book a relief after reading so many primary sources by rich Victorian men. I learned a lot and did not want to physically fight the author.
August 15, 2021
I've finally finished this long and fascinating look at London in the 19th century. The book looks at many different aspects of everyday life, with a strong focus on the streets, from markets and street food to entertainers and the various different types of transport over the period, as well as a long section where Flanders looks at the myths and reality of the Victorian sex trade.
Flanders is clearly a Dickens enthusiast, and often quotes and refers from his books and articles - something I enjoyed, as a long-time admirer. But she also draws on a host of other contemporary writers. There are all kinds of interesting anecdotes along the way, such as the theatre where "Old Price" riots were held when ticket prices went up, and the Riot Act was actually read from the stage - until the new prices were scrapped, and the audience held up a sign saying "We are satisfied."
Some of my favourite passages were the detailed accounts of specific incidents at the start of each main section of the book, including the Berners Street Hoax, an amazingly elaborate practical joke, and the Duke of Wellington's funeral, which became a huge event with space being sold to watch the procession, refreshments and much more.
My one real complaint is that the end notes are a bit confusing because the references are not marked in the text - numbers would have been useful when I occasionally wanted to check where something came from.
So why did it take me months to finish? It partly took me a long time because I was reading the large hardback edition, which can't be carried around easily (though a nice edition to have for all the illustrations). And I also found the print hard to read until I got new glasses - so nothing to do with the book itself!
Flanders is clearly a Dickens enthusiast, and often quotes and refers from his books and articles - something I enjoyed, as a long-time admirer. But she also draws on a host of other contemporary writers. There are all kinds of interesting anecdotes along the way, such as the theatre where "Old Price" riots were held when ticket prices went up, and the Riot Act was actually read from the stage - until the new prices were scrapped, and the audience held up a sign saying "We are satisfied."
Some of my favourite passages were the detailed accounts of specific incidents at the start of each main section of the book, including the Berners Street Hoax, an amazingly elaborate practical joke, and the Duke of Wellington's funeral, which became a huge event with space being sold to watch the procession, refreshments and much more.
My one real complaint is that the end notes are a bit confusing because the references are not marked in the text - numbers would have been useful when I occasionally wanted to check where something came from.
So why did it take me months to finish? It partly took me a long time because I was reading the large hardback edition, which can't be carried around easily (though a nice edition to have for all the illustrations). And I also found the print hard to read until I got new glasses - so nothing to do with the book itself!
July 19, 2020
Splendid work of history. I blame the pandemic for how long it took me to finish.
Now onto something zippier. Or shorter. Both would be even better.
Library copy
Now onto something zippier. Or shorter. Both would be even better.
Library copy
wish-list
January 22, 2015Description: The nineteenth century was a time of unprecedented change, and nowhere was this more apparent than London. In only a few decades, the capital grew from a compact Regency town into a sprawling metropolis of 6.5 million inhabitants, the largest city the world had ever seen. Technology—railways, street-lighting, and sewers—transformed both the city and the experience of city-living, as London expanded in every direction. Now Judith Flanders, one of Britain’s foremost social historians, explores the world portrayed so vividly in Dickens’ novels, showing life on the streets of London in colorful, fascinating detail.
From the moment Charles Dickens, the century's best-loved English novelist and London's greatest observer, arrived in the city in 1822, he obsessively walked its streets, recording its pleasures, curiosities and cruelties. Now, with him, Judith Flanders leads us through the markets, transport systems, sewers, rivers, slums, alleys, cemeteries, gin palaces, chop-houses and entertainment emporia of Dickens' London, to reveal the Victorian capital in all its variety, vibrancy, and squalor. From the colorful cries of street-sellers to the uncomfortable reality of travel by omnibus, to the many uses for the body parts of dead horses and the unimaginably grueling working days of hawker children, no detail is too small, or too strange. No one who reads Judith Flanders's meticulously researched, captivatingly written The Victorian City will ever view London in the same light again.
From the moment Charles Dickens, the century's best-loved English novelist and London's greatest observer, arrived in the city in 1822, he obsessively walked its streets, recording its pleasures, curiosities and cruelties. Now, with him, Judith Flanders leads us through the markets, transport systems, sewers, rivers, slums, alleys, cemeteries, gin palaces, chop-houses and entertainment emporia of Dickens' London, to reveal the Victorian capital in all its variety, vibrancy, and squalor. From the colorful cries of street-sellers to the uncomfortable reality of travel by omnibus, to the many uses for the body parts of dead horses and the unimaginably grueling working days of hawker children, no detail is too small, or too strange. No one who reads Judith Flanders's meticulously researched, captivatingly written The Victorian City will ever view London in the same light again.
January 4, 2016
This book is very well-researched and quite detailed. As someone who has a penchant for the Victorian era, and London in particular, I loved learning more about this time and place. For someone who is not especially enamored of Victorian London, it might be a bit more information than one would want. I should point out that this book indeed covers just what the title implies - the city itself: modes of transportation, street entertainment, merchants and food purveyors, etc. It does not touch much on everyday life within the home. For that I presume one must read the author's book Inside the Victorian Home: A Portrait of Domestic Life in Victorian England, which I certainly plan to do!
April 20, 2024
Ja bym mogła czytać tylko o erze wiktoriańskiej i książki Dickensa, (i jeszcze o stanach południowych Ameryki), więc dla mnie to była książka idealna. Bardzo szczegółowa, nawet momentami zastanawiałam się czy nie jest zbyt szczegółowa, ale z drugiej strony przeniosła mnie do tamtych czasów. Wielu informacji się dowiedziałam. Ma dużo odniesień do twórczości Dickensa, postaci z jego książek, ale też do jego życia. Długa, ale bardzo wartościowa pozycja.
December 20, 2019
Phenomenal work! If you read Victorian novelists, especially Dickens, or if you have an interest in Victorian history, this book is an absolute must-read!
October 17, 2025
obszerna, ale potrafiąca utrzymać uwagę czytelnika
August 28, 2017
The Victorian City by Judith Flanders introduces readers to the wonderful, bizarre, and entertaining world of Victorian London. What made it special to me was the fact that as a lover of the novels of Charles Dickens this book explained countless nuances of life that Dickens observed in the pages of his novels. Specifically, the many day-to-day observations of life that would be familiar or obvious to a Victorian but remain unknown and unacknowledged to a modern reader. For example, when reading a Dickens novel a brief reference may be made to a person's hat, or where they are standing, or what they are eating. OK. I'm a reader so let's move on to the essence of the novel. And there, at that moment of reading but not understanding the interpretation of the seemingly mundane or inconsequential, is the essence of Flanders' novel.
Time and time again Flanders will point out what is meant and signaled by a man wearing a paper hat and eating an oyster or how a gin palace differed from a local pub. A Victorian would understand and be able to decode the seemingly unimportant. Consider how a casual, seemingly meaningless reference in a novel read in 2117 to a person walking past the Cavern Club in Liverpool differs from a contemporary reader - especially if you love the Beatles!
Over and over I found myself thinking "if only I knew that piece of information when I read the Dickens novel how much richer my experience would be. One example. There is a young lady by the name of Lizzie in Dickens's Our Mutual Friend. She is being pursued by a suitor who confronts her in a graveyard. Now, that is creepy enough. In the novel Dickens mentions the mounds in the graveyard. Through the reading of Flanders I learned much more about Victorian graveyards and burials. To re-read that chapter again would give me an entirely different reference point and insight.
The copy of The Victorian City I read was from the library. First thing tomorrow I will order a copy.
Time and time again Flanders will point out what is meant and signaled by a man wearing a paper hat and eating an oyster or how a gin palace differed from a local pub. A Victorian would understand and be able to decode the seemingly unimportant. Consider how a casual, seemingly meaningless reference in a novel read in 2117 to a person walking past the Cavern Club in Liverpool differs from a contemporary reader - especially if you love the Beatles!
Over and over I found myself thinking "if only I knew that piece of information when I read the Dickens novel how much richer my experience would be. One example. There is a young lady by the name of Lizzie in Dickens's Our Mutual Friend. She is being pursued by a suitor who confronts her in a graveyard. Now, that is creepy enough. In the novel Dickens mentions the mounds in the graveyard. Through the reading of Flanders I learned much more about Victorian graveyards and burials. To re-read that chapter again would give me an entirely different reference point and insight.
The copy of The Victorian City I read was from the library. First thing tomorrow I will order a copy.
November 18, 2014
This is a fascinating overview of what life was like in London during Dicken's lifetime/writing period. The author has done extensive research and refers to Dicken's work as a tie-in. I have not read most of Dicken's writing, yet had no problem appreciating this book. The information focuses on the working and working poor so we see how hard it was just to make enough money to stay fed and sheltered. The lives of the street workers (food vendors etc) were horrific, and yet they were not the worst off...
The author divides book into sections and then chapters. The Sections are labelled THE CITY WAKES, STAYING ALIVE, ENJOYING LIFE, and SLEEPING AND AWAKE. The information is detailed but never dull! It really made me appreciate the little things like indoor plumbing and an oven, not to mention a bed! There is humour here as well (believe it or not!). There are some reproduced historical illustrations and maps, my copy was an ARC and the quality of the illustrations was quite poor, and I really wish there had been more of them. The maps really helped, and it was fun reading about parts of London that I know are now so expensive, which were huge slums in Dicken's time!
I read this book in small increments, 2-3 chapters a day, after that I found the facts all started to blur together, but that may just be my tolerance level for this type of reading material!
Many thanks to St. Martin's Press for the early copy of this book!
The author divides book into sections and then chapters. The Sections are labelled THE CITY WAKES, STAYING ALIVE, ENJOYING LIFE, and SLEEPING AND AWAKE. The information is detailed but never dull! It really made me appreciate the little things like indoor plumbing and an oven, not to mention a bed! There is humour here as well (believe it or not!). There are some reproduced historical illustrations and maps, my copy was an ARC and the quality of the illustrations was quite poor, and I really wish there had been more of them. The maps really helped, and it was fun reading about parts of London that I know are now so expensive, which were huge slums in Dicken's time!
I read this book in small increments, 2-3 chapters a day, after that I found the facts all started to blur together, but that may just be my tolerance level for this type of reading material!
Many thanks to St. Martin's Press for the early copy of this book!
April 10, 2025
this rating is very subjective.
a lot less approachable than the previous book i read on the topic of the victorian period, but i needed something more focused on victorian london and this was the most easily accessible one.
unfortunately it was not considering the specific period of victorian london i needed, but that’s on me, i should’ve checked first.
still pretty helpful to understand what the atmosphere was like in london at this time, i’d say this was a reasonably extensive record.
keep in mind this is exactly what it says on the tin, so don’t start this and then act surprised by just how many dickens references there are (yes, i was surprised.)
a lot less approachable than the previous book i read on the topic of the victorian period, but i needed something more focused on victorian london and this was the most easily accessible one.
unfortunately it was not considering the specific period of victorian london i needed, but that’s on me, i should’ve checked first.
still pretty helpful to understand what the atmosphere was like in london at this time, i’d say this was a reasonably extensive record.
keep in mind this is exactly what it says on the tin, so don’t start this and then act surprised by just how many dickens references there are (yes, i was surprised.)
May 18, 2021
Totally engrossing. Loved it!
And what a labour of love ... Just sometimes I could have done with less detail and that is totally a criticism of myself.
And what a labour of love ... Just sometimes I could have done with less detail and that is totally a criticism of myself.
January 1, 2022
Lots of names, facts, lists, descriptions. Creates a picture of London at the time. But very little social commentary. And beware--there’s no narrative.
December 13, 2014
A well written and entertaining look at life in London during a fifty-year segment of the 18th century, it gave me much to ponder and spawned a couple of story ideas. Judith Flanders touches on some current research about the city and refutes some of the popular--but baseless--accounts of life, especially for the poor. There were some notable gaps (in particular, I noticed there was little discussion of spirituality, and a lot of the social agitation of the time was glossed over). But I've definitely got it on my list of books to pick up for my own collection.
February 16, 2019
This painted the picture so vividly, I can’t be more grateful I wasn’t born in this era.
April 19, 2021
I have been inhaling all things Victorian for my research reading a while now, and just recently finished The Victorian House by the same author. This book takes a look at London in Dickens’s time (so early to mid-Victorian) and also looks at the London of Dickens’s books.
Judith Flanders has a lovely style, a way of bringing what must be tons of research to life, and telling history like a big story. This book starts with how to get about, so you literally ‘arrive’ in London at the start of a day, and then progress through the day. There’s how to eat and drink, where to shop, where you might live, the sites of the city and the entertainment on offer, so it’s a pretty comprehensive guide. The focus is very much on lower-middle, working-class and the poor – the world of Dickens. You get a street view of London, a taste of what it might have been like if you were a coster, or a clerk, or a barrow boy. One of the things that comes over very strongly is the extent to which women were more limited in city life than men – and the more middle-class you were, the more those limitations applied. Women couldn’t partake in the emerging cultural changes such as restaurants, coffee houses and (to an extent) gin bars. Shopping as a pastime was well-developed, but even a stroll in a park had its dangers. The Victorian City was a man’s city – hardly a surprise, but this book really brings it home.
There’s some overlap with Liza Picard’s book on Victorian London and I wouldn’t recommend you read both as I did (I confess, I bought this one, quite forgetting that I had already read the other). As I read (as opposed to research) I must admit I did get just a little bit fed up with Dickens popping up all over the place, since I’m not a huge fan, but it was rather the point of the book, so I can hardly criticise that. This is an epic work, a highly readable history, and full of fascinating stuff that you can bore people with over breakfast (in my case, since I do my research reading first thing) or dinner. It’s the perfect ‘did you know’ kind of book – oh I love that! And what’s more, it’s made me absolutely desperate to get back to London and walk some of the streets for myself.
Judith Flanders has a lovely style, a way of bringing what must be tons of research to life, and telling history like a big story. This book starts with how to get about, so you literally ‘arrive’ in London at the start of a day, and then progress through the day. There’s how to eat and drink, where to shop, where you might live, the sites of the city and the entertainment on offer, so it’s a pretty comprehensive guide. The focus is very much on lower-middle, working-class and the poor – the world of Dickens. You get a street view of London, a taste of what it might have been like if you were a coster, or a clerk, or a barrow boy. One of the things that comes over very strongly is the extent to which women were more limited in city life than men – and the more middle-class you were, the more those limitations applied. Women couldn’t partake in the emerging cultural changes such as restaurants, coffee houses and (to an extent) gin bars. Shopping as a pastime was well-developed, but even a stroll in a park had its dangers. The Victorian City was a man’s city – hardly a surprise, but this book really brings it home.
There’s some overlap with Liza Picard’s book on Victorian London and I wouldn’t recommend you read both as I did (I confess, I bought this one, quite forgetting that I had already read the other). As I read (as opposed to research) I must admit I did get just a little bit fed up with Dickens popping up all over the place, since I’m not a huge fan, but it was rather the point of the book, so I can hardly criticise that. This is an epic work, a highly readable history, and full of fascinating stuff that you can bore people with over breakfast (in my case, since I do my research reading first thing) or dinner. It’s the perfect ‘did you know’ kind of book – oh I love that! And what’s more, it’s made me absolutely desperate to get back to London and walk some of the streets for myself.
March 12, 2019
This book is FABULOUS! I recommend this book to anyone who loves to study the Victorian era. I learned so much from this book. Judith Flanders is a true scholar and I will be reading more of her books!
She leans heavily on Dickens' writings to paint a picture of life in London, for it is thanks to Dickens' himself that we know so much about daily life during that time. She also has TONS of primary sources to back up and elaborate upon all the Dickensian documentation.
So many fascinating facts! For instance, we know how people spoke in Victorian London thanks to the pedestrian Dickens! He would walk the streets daily listening to people and write down how various people spoke and he included their slang.
There is a chart at the beginning of this book that discusses British currency and how that broke down during the Victorian era. I finally understand the significance when Scrooge tells the little boy on Christmas morning to hurry and get the goose and: "Come back with the man, and I’ll give you a shilling. Come back with him in less than five minutes and I’ll give you half-a-crown!”
There are also a generous amount of old photographs and paintings in this book.
I could go on and on but suffice to say, this book is outstanding!
She leans heavily on Dickens' writings to paint a picture of life in London, for it is thanks to Dickens' himself that we know so much about daily life during that time. She also has TONS of primary sources to back up and elaborate upon all the Dickensian documentation.
So many fascinating facts! For instance, we know how people spoke in Victorian London thanks to the pedestrian Dickens! He would walk the streets daily listening to people and write down how various people spoke and he included their slang.
There is a chart at the beginning of this book that discusses British currency and how that broke down during the Victorian era. I finally understand the significance when Scrooge tells the little boy on Christmas morning to hurry and get the goose and: "Come back with the man, and I’ll give you a shilling. Come back with him in less than five minutes and I’ll give you half-a-crown!”
There are also a generous amount of old photographs and paintings in this book.
I could go on and on but suffice to say, this book is outstanding!
February 16, 2017
A very good read, though a lot of it I'd already read in How to Be a Victorian. It did go into more depth on several topics - death and suicide and eating out for example, as well as the Thames and the sewage issues in London. I would consider this a nice companion but not an all-encompassing book by any means, too many areas are not touched upon. Still, it was supremely interesting and I enjoyed it very much indeed.
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