Mayhew, Henry; Christopher Hibbert, ed. — London Characters and Crooks

London, The Folio Society, 1996. . Hardcover. Size: Large 8vo 9" - 10. A fine-looking Folio Society exemplar, a big, thick Imperial octavo format hardcover measuring 10" tall x 7" wide, with fabulously intricate black-stamped illustration to front cover, bound in khaki green, black lettering stamped onto gold border, also on front cover, and with gilt decorative flourishes, quite fine. Housed in a simple, recessed cardboard slipcase as per Folio Society standards. Edited and Introduced by Christopher Hibbert. A perfect exemplar of the work of the Folio Society to bring out the fine works of the 19th century. Henry Mayhew (1812-1887), who was an immensely influential reform advocate and social researcher, was an intimate also of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. His Labour and the London Poor (1851) was particularly influential on Engels's groundbreaking investigation of the cotton and other industries of Manchester, England, including factories that his father owned. This edition is greatly augmented by the duotone illustrations of John Thomson, a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society, these being taken from his Street Life in London, co-authored with Adolphe Smith; 19 such illustrations, all in, quite fine and evocative of poor London's street-life, legal and illegal, child and adult. xvii [2], 4-535 pp. including a full index.Member, I.O.B.A., C.B.A., and adherent to the highest ethical standards. . . . Fine