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London Labour and the London Poor

Name: London Labour and the London Poor
Author: Henry Mayhew

Henry Mayhew · Public domain text

498,651 words · about 34 h 55 min to read

Cover of London Labour and the London Poor

Text only · 32 illustrations omitted. Illustrated source.

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About this edition

The text of London Labour and the London Poor comes from Project Gutenberg e-text #55998, cataloged there as “London Labour and the London Poor, Vol. 1”. It is in English and public domain in the United States. Project Gutenberg’s header and license text are removed, and RedLectern sets the text out for reading on screen; no words of the book are rewritten or summarized. More formats (EPUB, Kindle) · How RedLectern is built

MIT courses cite a printed edition of this book; the free copy here is Project Gutenberg's e-text #55998, not that edition. Page numbers, introductions and editorial notes will differ, so use chapter or section references rather than page numbers. The editions MIT courses cite

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About this book

From Wikipedia

London Labour and the London Poor is a work of Victorian journalism by Henry Mayhew. In the 1840s, he observed, documented and described the state of working people in London for a series of articles in a newspaper, the Morning Chronicle, which were later compiled into book form. Mayhew was accompanied on his walks of impoverished neighbourhoods by his friend, the author Charles Dickens.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article “London Labour and the London Poor” (revision 1368773523), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Not written by RedLectern.

Author: Henry Mayhew (1812–1887)
Language: English
Subjects: Poor › England › London, London (England) › Social conditions, Criminals › England › London, Prostitution › England › London, Charities › England › London, Working class › England › London
Length: 498,651 words · about 34 h 55 min
Sections: 6 reader sections · Table of contents
Audiobook: Listen free (LibriVox)
Source: Project Gutenberg #55998

Contents (6)

Opening about 2 min
Preface about 7 h
London Labour and the London Poor (part 3 of 6) about 7 h 10 min
London Labour and the London Poor (part 4 of 6) about 6 h 54 min
London Labour and the London Poor (part 5 of 6) about 7 h 17 min
London Labour and the London Poor (part 6 of 6) about 6 h 33 min

The opening of Preface

The present volume is the first of an intended series, which it is hoped will form, when complete, a cyclopædia of the industry, the want, and the vice of the great Metropolis.
It is believed that the book is curious for many reasons:
It surely may be considered curious as being the first attempt to publish the history of a people, from the lips of the people themselves--giving a literal description of their labour, their earnings, their trials, and their sufferings, in their own “unvarnished” language; and to pourtray the condition of their homes and their families by personal observation of the places, and direct communion with the individuals.
It may be considered curious also as being the first commission of inquiry into the state of the people, undertaken by a private individual, and the first “blue book” ever published in twopenny numbers.

Read on in Part 2 →