Londoners

People, rather than buildings, play the most important part in the life and growth of a city, and 'Londoners' is the first book to concentrate entirely on the inhabitants of the metropolis as they have been depicted in paintings, drawings and prints throughout the ages. The people of London are brought to life in images which range from much-loved works - such as Frith's 'The Railway Station' and Hogarth's 'Servants' - to rare manuscripts and drawings by great artists which have never been published before.
Celina Fox, Keeper of Paintings, Prints and Drawings at the Museum of London, has written a text of acute perception, which offers fresh insight into the character and history of the city. She explores the reasons why certain groups of people were singled out for notice in various eras - the mid-eighteenth-century popularity of prints showing pretty, innocent servant girls, for example, or the Georgian and Victorian mania for portraits of condemned murderers - by looking at the social and enviromental background and the way it influenced artistic styles and trends.
High society and servants, street traders and craftsmen, merchants and criminals, children and the poor - no section of the population is omitted in this vivid and lively re-creation of London's past.

With 257 Illustrations, 20 in colour
On the jacket: 'The Ninth's of November (detail), 1887-90, by William Logsdail