London
Although I now live in the Forest of Dean and work in the beautiful Wye Valley, for many years I lived and worked in London.
So in spite of my lovely surroundings, I still love London; I love its history, museums, architecture (some more than others), art galleries, theatres, restaurants - its complete zest for life!
So it is no surprise that one of my favourite sections in the shop is the one on London. As is right and proper, all manner of books have been written about London, so from this section I am just going to highlight a few of my favourites.
One of the oldest books we have in stock dates from 1766 and is a 4 volume set by a gentleman called the Reverend John Entick M.A. In which he details the history of London, Westminster and Southwark. We find out about hangings, bridge building, derivations of place names, daily life as well as there being a section on taxes, not usually one of my favourite topics, but it is interesting to see the sort of things that were being sold in London, these particular items are from 1642:
'Babies Heads'; 'Frankincense'; 'Gloves of Spanish Leather'; 'Pomegranates'; 'Whale Fins'
Slightly worried by the Babies Heads!
A bit of further research into the Reverend John Entick M.A. reveals that he wasn't a Reverend and he didn't have an M.A!
The next book to take my fancy is 'Village London Past and Present' which contains some wonderful photographs from the Francis Frith collection – Francis Frith was an ex-grocer and a millionaire, who fully embraced the new technology of photography and set off to photograph, not only London, but the whole country.
This book compares old with the new (well 1990!). In some you are able to recognise places a hundred or so years apart, but others have completely changed.
I think if we compared 1990 to now we would also see a huge difference!
Above: Covent Garden 1890 and 1990
I love this print from 'Sign Boards of Old London Shops' - full of hustle and bustle - with the shops displaying their sign boards above the door. If you were looking for a bookseller, you would have to look for a sign depicting one of the following: a Brazen Serpent, a Looking Glass or an authors head such as Shakespeare or Homer.
On my recent visit to London, it was interesting to note how many of the buildings I remember have been knocked down and replaced. I thought this was mainly a modern phenomena, but it has been happening for centuries. Look at the photos and illustrations of the following buildings, not one of them remains!
There is so much to feast the eye upon it is difficult to know when to stop, but my last book is called London Revealed and includes such delights that aren't normally seen on a walk through London.
Contributed by Theresa
(Published on 23rd Oct 2014 )
