Illustrated History of London
From the year 450,000 BC and the earliest human remains in the Thames valley, to the 2012 Olympics, taking in invasions, revolts and epidemics along the way - an entire history of London in words and pictures may seem a rather ambitious undertaking.
But ‘London: the Illustrated history’ does all that and more in 350 pages that whisk us in 15 chapters from prehistory to near future, each chapter broken down into themed sections that explore the lives of ordinary Londoners, from priests to prostitutes, bakers to burglars, cavemen to international financiers in the Square Mile.
A chapter on prehistory shows how the East End was once the stamping ground of mammoths and rhinos, reindeer and bison, with human species as far back as 400,000 BC. Around 10,000 years ago, the hunters became farmsteaders, and there have been hoards of metalwork unearthed in the East End - evidence of those early moves to permanent settlement.
Of course the first emergence of London as a town comes with the Romans. Londinium was founded soon after the invasion in 43 AD, though was razed by Boudicca 17 years later. We see the decline of London as the civilisation of the Roman era falls into the Dark Ages. The Roman army withdrew in 410 as Rome itself came under threat, and London was abandoned within a generation.
It was to another unwelcome invasion that London owes its recovery. After a gap of 200 years, during which the city was largely deserted, the Saxons arrived. Roman London lay between the modern Tower Hill in the east and Cannon Street to the west. The Anglo-Saxon invasions saw the establishment of a new London (discovered only within the last 20 years and dubbed ‘Lundenwic’ by archaeologists) around what is now the Strand, Aldwych and Covent Garden. In the ninth century the Vikings arrived, trashed Lundenwic and established their own London within the Roman city walls.
Of course all of this, though fascinating enough, might pall a little without pictures, and this is where the book really scores. Beautifully produced and reproduced on glossy paper, the tome is a succession of detailed maps; photographs of Saxon coins and swords; paintings of Londoners famous and ordinary. One of the most impressive features are the cutaway illustrations such as that of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, showing the elaborate work of architect Henry Holland. The authors have performed the same trick with the Barbican - follwing the detailed plan may be the first time many of us have managed to find our way around the centre. Or see the graphic reconstruction of the Crystal Palace, showing clearly the breathtaking size of this grandiloquent Victorian creation.
The scope of the book is, of course vast. As you turn the pages you move from the Gordon Riots to the first Underground trains; from early church bells to the Gherkin soaring above the City; from the medieval Jewish community to Brick Lane in the 1930s. Some of the modern photography is stunning, and there are new London landmarks aplenty, with the Tate Modern, the ever-growing cluster of towers on Canary Wharf and the London Eye. But artists have been depicting London for centuries, and it is some of these older works that really bring the town to life. George Hicks’s ‘The General Post Office, One Minute to Six’ shows the frantic dash of Londoners to catch the last post in 1860.
Some of the most fascinating images are from the Victorian painters who tried to capture a city that was growing by the day. London 1m people in 1801 and 6.5m a hundred years later. Artists depict the stewing mass of traffic, people, smoke, confusion and new buildings that were London. ‘From Pentonville Road looking west: evening’ painted in 1884 by John O’Connor, shows London in an atmospheric light. The Midland Railway Hotel at St Pancras (then recently opened, and currently being restored) emerges like a medieval cathedral from the smoky haze of a London evening, as horse-drawn omnibuses cram the streets.
For those already fascinated by London, this slab of a coffee table book would make a fantastic Christmas present. And for those who live here but know nothing of the history, this would make a superb primer. This is an irresistible page turner, as you flick from ‘The Growth of Victorian Suburbia’ to ‘Gangland and Crime’; from ‘Regency Shopping’ to ‘Beatnik London’. And we don’t stop with the present, looking at London moving east, and where the city is going in the 21st century. And the little chapter on Spitalfields is a gem - the illustrated and annotated spread showing how Georgian Spitalfields, Trendy Spitalfields and the glass cube business blocks of the New Spitalfields rub up against each other, and get along pretty much. And that pretty much is the story of London itself.
London - The Illustrated History by Cathy Ross and John Clark; published by Allen Lane, £30 hardback, ISBN 9871846141256
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