Boasting a wealth of vintage photographs from 25 different archives, Philip Davies' stunning visual chronicle of London's development from a collection of archaic villages to an imperial capital that was the envy of the world is a remarkable repository of architectural and civic progress.
Philip Davies's first bestselling book Lost London, 1870–1945, published in 2009, mesmerised readers with the wealth of information conveyed in its early photographs of London. While the primary focus was on the built environment, the demeanour and dress of people in the photographs left an indelible impression on all who scanned its pages.
More than ten years later, London The Great Transformation, 1860-1920 opens a new window on Lost London’s themes, buildings and streets; this time with nearly twice as many historic photographs from 25 different archives that illuminate London’s transition from a rambling collection of villages and motley larger buildings – from stone built churches to timber framed mediaeval structures – into an imperial capital which was the largest and wealthiest city in the world. Here we see the crooked alleys off narrow streets that would be flattened and replaced by broad avenues and dramatic vistas that amazed London’s inhabitants then and still do today when seen in their construction and pristine locations thanks to the photographers’ works reproduced in high quality in this authoritative book.
Broadcaster and architectural historian, Dan Cruickshank comments in his foreword:“this book brings together images that, like the missing pieces of a vast jigsaw puzzle, can now be assembled to allow us to see a fuller picture of the metropolis in the throes of great change.”
Alongside the great new buildings of the age, like the Crystal Palace and St. Pancras station, new roads, railways and infrastructure wreaked havoc. The medieval buildings of the City of London and the ancient coaching inns of Southwark can be seen poised on the edge of oblivion. The squalid alleys and yards of London’s poorest neighbourhoods are teeming with the destitute and the outcast. The riverside warehouses and wharves of Bankside and Lambeth contrast with the grand commercial buildings of the City and West End as well as the emerging middle-class suburbs spreading out beyond. Above all, here are the people of London; mute witnesses to the monumental changes that were shaping the world around them.
In his preface Philip Davies quotes from Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities:
‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair,
With astonishing clarity this book reveals the veracity of Dickens’ vision in the twin poles of prosperity and poverty which shaped the capital’s myriad neighbourhoods and the lives of the people who inhabited them.
In a biographical Author’s Note, Philip Davies recounts the childhood experiences of post war London that fuelled his interest in and passion for conservation of London’s historic cityscape which would make him the expert custodian he remains today and that enables the extraordinary grasp and range of knowledge that is spread through more than 800 captions in this book and its gripping Introduction which gives a concise history of the technology that enabled the new art of early photography and allowed the capture of the moral and aesthetic imperatives that are not only about a city’s architecture but also about its social milieu. In both realms there are many disturbing images of loss and poverty as well as transcendent splendour. But this is the very strength of such an important book where we can see how the people of the time lived – whether conveyed in relative luxury in carriages along grand avenues or sleeping barefoot and in rags in the streets and back alleys.
London The Great Transformation, 1860-1920 is in 13 chapters covering the main boroughs and districts of the Victorian and Edwardian city as follows:
City of LondonStrand and Fleet Street Covent Garden Holborn and Bloomsbury City of Westminster Euston and Camden Northern Heights Islington HackneyTower Hamlets South East and SouthwarkLambethKensington and West London
Publisher: Atlantic Publishing, Croxley GreenISBN: 9781915143006Number of pages: 480Dimensions: 290 x 245 mm