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Dr. Johnson's London: Life in London, 1740-1770

Dr. Johnson's London: Life in London, 1740-1770

by Liza Picard (Author)

  • Used

    Hardcover 2000

    $4.50

  • Used

    Paperback 2001

    $3.27

  • New

    Paperback 2004

    $14.07
Synopsis

Like its popular and acclaimed predecessor Restoration London, this book is the result of the author's passionate interest in the practical details of the everyday life of our ancestors, so often ignored in more conventional history books. Based on every possible contemporary source - diaries, almanacs, newspapers, advice books, memoirs, government papers and reports - Liza Picard examines every aspect of life in London: the streets, houses and gardens; cooking, housework, laundry and shopping; clothes and jewellery, cosmetics and hairdressing; medicine, sex, hobbies, education and etiquette; religion and popular beliefs; law and crime. This book spans the years 1740 to 1770, starting when the gin craze was gaining ground and ending when the east coast of America was still British.

$4.50

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Quantity

4 in stock

More Information

Format: Hardcover
 Pages: 362
 Edition: First Edition
 Publisher: Orion
Published: 12 Jul 2000
ISBN 10: 0297842188
ISBN 13: 9780297842187
Book Overview: Restoration London: has now sold over 23,000 copies as well as being as being a main selection of the History Book Club. On first publication reviewers said: 'A marvellous source-book for historical novelists and film-makers out for authenticity, and a near-perfect bedside book for anyone else.' Sunday Telegraph 'This is a joy of a book.' Roy Porter 'Abattoirs, witchcraft, wallpaper, treason, the various types of pox, rioting, pepper, spitting, pregnancy, Isaac Newton, pawn shops and lots and lots of sex - her scholarship is breathtaking.' Mail On Sunday 'Picard has a delicious sense of humour, an insatiable curiosity and an acute eye for detail... A truly wonderful book.' Sydney Morning Herald DR JOHNSON'S LONDON - Vivid social history of one of the most appealing periods in London's history.

Media Reviews
At last, a riveting history book with no wars, few dates and minimal references to the King ... Picard has an unerring eye for picking out the most vivid phrase, the most apt memory or pithiest description from the wealth of contemporary information that exists -- Ruth Cowen * Sunday Express *
There are fascinating disquisitions on do-it-yourself decorating, on male and female underwear, on funerals, and on the language of fans ... Dr Johnson's London is a Baedeker of the past ... It is absorbing and revealing in equal measure -- Peter Ackroyd * The Times *
In this new survey of Johnson's London, which spans the years 1740 to 1770, Liza Picard reveals what it was that proved so compelling about the monstrous metropolis ... With her keen eye for human quirks and human weakness, Picard brings the age's tortuous splendours and profound murkiness vividly to life, and does so with great verve and originality -- Henry Hitchings * Observer *
Picard's exploration of life in the mid-eighteenth century succeeds in being both accessible and vivid. Her curiosity and enthusiasm are infectious, and she has an instinct for what will interest the lay reader -- Victoria Lane * Daily Telegraph *
This book sweeps across the London of 1740 to 1770 like a flying magnifying glass. [Picard's] dry humour and eagle eye make her a superb guide. It opens with a sedan chair tour around George II's London and along the river. I can only say it is brilliant -- Illtyd Harrington * Camden New Journal *
This wonderful book drops us right in the noisy, dirty, dung-ridden heart of mid-eighteenth-century London ... Picard's street-level approach builds up a compelling, all-encompassing picture of how Londoners, from commoners to kings, lived and died * Glasgow Herald *
Read Liza Picard's book, wrap yourself in the atmosphere of the past, and you'll emerge with a gulp of relief to be living now, not then -- Miranda Seymour * Sunday Times *
Author Bio
Liza Picard was born in 1927. She read law at the London School of Economics and qualified as a barrister, but did not practise. She worked for many years in the office of the Solicitor of the Inland Revenue and lived in Gray's Inn and Hackney, before retiring to live in Oxford. Restoration London, the result of many years' interest and research into London life, was her first book.