A collection of essays written by Dickens between about 1830 and about 1860. They appeared in the Morning and Evening Chronicle, Sketches by Boz, Household Words, All the Year Round and the Uncommerical Traveller, and are essentially tours of the London of Dickens' time or sometimes the remembered London of his youth. Dickens is a delightful guide, and one sees that his description of the people of London has much in common with the characters of his novels. As a sidelight, one also sees here that the various opinions and prejudices that Dickens has some of his characters say, are indeed his own. ( )

This selection of celebrated essays by Charles Dickens conjures up a peerless, eyewitness account of the 19th-century capital, from the rarefied world of Whitehall to working-class conviviality and blighted slums.

With a total of 26 essays, including ‘Greenwich Fair’, ‘Early Coaches’, ‘Private Theatres’, ‘A Parliamentary Sketch’, ‘Gin-Shops’ and ‘Scotland Yard’, this collection, with original illustrations by George Cruikshank, remains one of the most popular titles ever published by The Folio Society in spite of being out of print for over thirty years. It is high time, then, that a new generation of Folio members has the chance to enjoy it.