I would like to tell you about Liza Picard's book "Victorian London". The cover of this book is very similar to the book by Peter Ackroyd "London: The Biography", but it's not Ackroyd - it's a completely different author. But Picard's book is of a different genre and she uses several other methods to attract the attention of the reader.
What is this book? "Victorian London" is a kind of encyclopedia of the Victorian era, namely the years of the reign of Queen Victoria, which formed a separate era in the history of England, in the history of London, in English culture. And from 1837 to 1901, we can distinguish a separate Victorian period, when the best achievements of Britain were created, and in the field of technology, and in the field of literature and politics. A tremendous era.
In general, the book is devoted to everyday life, ordinary features, which we completely do not notice while we live in the time in which we live. But turning to the past era or enjoying the works of art of this time, we do not understand much, do not feel to the end as we would like. After all, in order to experience this, you need to know the intricacies of none of the contemporaries. Only by digging deeper, using a huge number of letters, diaries of ordinary Londoners, historical documents, maps, directories, periodicals of the time that Liza Picard used - you can restore the smallest life, atmosphere and mores of that time.
Here you will get to noisy London streets and into dark alleys. You will fall into such separate social niches as docks. You will fall into the beggarly outskirts and into the London city, the nest of aristocrats. You will fall into the most diverse social strata, visit prisons, hospitals, factories, talk with cabmen, clerks, and governesses. Communicate with aristocrats and beggars. You will visit the pubs, in the first London Underground. Track how everything was built that now is the essence of the city, then, without which this huge metropolis is unthinkable. How the streets were laid, how the sewerage problem was solved, how the parks were destroyed, what sort of conveniences for the household ... How it all was arranged.
After all, once there were no electric lamps and gas, and before that they used candles. Once the ladies walked in the crinolines, and the gentlemen, according to the rules of good taste, were forced to turn amicably at the moment when the lady was getting on the coach, because in order to get into the carriage, the lady needed to tear this crinoline. And when the lady went to the "stop" she needed, the conductor loudly suggested to the gentlemen to help her get off and this always was, and it was not necessarily an aristocrat.
Who will benefit from this book? In addition to historians and fans of that era, in addition to professionals in everyday life and life, etc., this book will be of interest to the widest reader. After all, there are very few people among us who do not like Dickens, do not like Conan Doyle, do not like Stevenson, do not like authors of that era or did not read their works, those who do not want to know their favorite heroes even more. The simplest way to do this, and with great interest - is to read Liza Picard's book.
From this book you will learn those details of life that surrounded, say Sherlock Holmes, but not reproduced in the novels of Conan Doyle. You will find out exactly how the cabmen looked and in what years, how they drove, what were the words. That is, "Victorian London" is a huge encyclopedia of life, only told by the living voices of people of that era. Excerpts from historical documents, descriptions, memoirs, selected so carefully and so compact that they are not bored at all to read.
The cinematography of this book, filled in essence with dry facts and descriptions of rather private details, it is unusual. Already somewhere in the middle of the book you simply forget that we are talking about such a remote time, that this is not a description of modern realities, but historical facts.
Of course, the book does not have a plot, it is not an artwork in our understanding, as a novel. But its main character is the inhabitants of London. That population, which we now see in one of the major capitals of the world, was born at that time, at that time. And in the Picard book you can read how it all happened.
Read "Victorian London", a wonderful addition to any art works of that era and just an entertaining entertainment for those who want to learn a lot of interesting facts of that time.
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