Reference works

London street names by Gillian Bebbington

The Lore of the Land by Jennifer Westwood - London section

I own the best London reference book.

It's called BK Lovers' London by Reader Lesley and it makes me go all squishy inside just looking at it.
I carry it everywhere (except today because my partner borrowed it for a trip to Holborn or some suchlike place) and whenever I go anywhere I check to see what kind of bookshops it has on offer.

It's my personal goal to visit and buy from every bookshop in London. The book even has a section for librarys and reference collections and museums and lovely things like that. :)

Also I just got a copy of The London Underworld The London Underworld in the Victorian Period: Authentic First-person Accounts by Beggars, Thieves and Prostitutes: v. 1 by Henry Mayhew which I think is the same as The London Underworld by Henry Mayhew but in a different edition. Not sure.

Can't not mention Peter Ackroyd's London: A Biography and Nairn's London for general references to the city and its areas.

wanderlust,

I think you`re right about the Mayhew, I think ithe book you mention is probably The London Underworld under another name, or extracted from it. There are so many variations on his works ! Of course his major work London Labour and the London poor is also wortha look, or there is a Folio Society editiion drawn from them - London Crooks and Characters.

Hello everyone.

Arthur Mee's Kings England Books relating to London and Middlesex are pretty comprehensive reference books to London.

London would grind to a halt without the Tube (mind you, it nearly grinds to a halt anyway),so The Subterranean Railway: How the London Underground was built and how it changed the city forever is I suppose a reference book of sorts. I've been given it for Christmas so can't write more at this stage.

I recommend The Lost Rivers of London by Nicholas Barton I agree about the Ackroyd And I love Dickens's Dictionary of London 1888 That's the son of the novelist. He compiled one one about the Thames as well, which I hope to get for Christmas....

hazelk - sounds like the Underground book is something my Bob and I would like - I'll have to look for it!

On the subject of Mayhew, I also have another book, a Penguin called The Unknown Mayhew: Selections from the Morning Chronicle 1849-1850. Mayhew later expanded his work for the Chronicle into London Labour and the London Poor, his great Victorian London social history.

This little book might be handy for anyone interested to know more about London writing - London Writing a Pocket Essential by Merlin Coverley

Typical chapter headings are Criminal London and London in Ruins.

I've tried to track down some of the late Victorian works set in the East End but finding the secondhand prices a bit too high for me.

I'm a big fan of the Chambers London Gazetteer by Russ Willey - entries for every bit of London you can think of (and many that you can't...)

How about Ed Glinert's London Compendium or The London Encyclopaedia (Christopher Hibbert et al). I've used both a lot, and recently bought the new edition of the latter for a tenner from The Book People. Great for dipping in!