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London Books

In and Around London
£4.99
Now £3.99
ISBN-13: 978-1841651507
Gavan Naden, Max Riddington, Sarah Pickering .
Helps in discovering the sights and sounds of London, a city steeped in history and culture. This book includes everything, from the Tower of London to the Houses of Parliament and St Paul's Cathedral.
It also talks about the West End, River Thames and the Royal Greenwich. It provides a CD-ROM with 30 colour images including panoramic views.

Haunted London Underground

£9.99
Now £7.99
ISBN-13: 978-0752447469
David Brandon & Alan Brooke
Spooky sightings and strange occurrences on London's busy underground network

London's Underground is associated with a multitude of ghostly stories and sightings. Particular stations and abandoned lines, many of which are in close proximity to burial sites from centuries ago, have given rise to unexplained events. This chilling book reveals well-known and hitherto unpublished tales of spirits, spectres and other spooky occurrences on one of the oldest railway networks in the world. The stories of sightings include the ghost of an actress regularly witnessed on Aldywch Station and the ‘Black Nun' at Bank Station. Eerie noises, such as the cries of thirteen-year-old Anne Naylor, who was murdered in 1758 at Farringdon Station, and the screams of children who were in an accident at Bethnal Green Station during Second World War, are still heard echoing down the stations. These and many more ghostly accounts are recorded in fascinating detail in this book, which is a must-read for anyone interested in the mysterious and murky history of London's Underground.

Feeding London: A Taste Of History
£16.95
Now £13.56
ISBN-13: 978-0948667855
Richard Tames

London :Rebuilding the City After the Great Fire
£27.50
Now £22.00
ISBN-13: 978-1860771132
T M M Baker

After the Great Fire, Londoners faced the challenge of rebuilding their devastated city. They did so with a very English compromise between modernity and tradition. This intriguing book opens up new perspectives on the story in an account of how and why the new City of London was rebuilt as it was after 1666. The original appearance of the new, late 17th-century London is re-created in some three hundred pictures.

“This is an excellent book ...” Local History Magazine

London Crime, Death & Debauchery
£14.99
Now £11.99
ISBN-13: 978-0750946247
Neil R. Storey

London: Crime, Death & Debauchery is an alternative history of the darker side of Britain’s capital city. No other book on London covers this topic in such a complete fashion, with cases ranging from the Restoration to the early nineteenth century. It weaves macabre accounts into an entertaining criminal history accessible to all.

Featuring countless stories of infamous misdeeds and scandalous behaviour, the book includes duelling, murder, gaol breaks, rioting, body snatchers, robbery, suicide, drinking, infanticide, gambling, highwaymen, fraud and executions. Illustrated with a series of engravings, drawings and photographs that help to paint a picture of historic London’s seedier side, Neil R. Storey brings together a selection of tales to shock, scare and entertain.

London, A Historical Companion
£30.00
Now £24.00
ISBN-13: 978-0752425771
Kenneth Panton

London: A Century In The City
£14.99
Now £11.99
ISBN-13: 978-0752445076
BRIAN GIRLING

NEWGATE : London’s Prototype of Hell
£8.99
Now £7.19
ISBN-13: 978-0750938969
STEPHEN HALLIDAY

Newgate Prison was the largest, most notorious and worst of London prisons. Stephen Halliday tells the story of Newgate’s origins, the criminals it held, the punishments meted out and its rebuilding and reform.

There have been more prisons in London than in any other European city. Of these, Newgate was the largest, most notorious and worst. Built during the twelfth century, it became a legendary place - the inspiration of more poems, plays and novels than any other building in London. It was a place of cruelty and wretchedness, at various times holding Dick Turpin, Titus Oates, Daniel Defoe, Jack Sheppard and Casanova.Because prisons were privately run, any time spent in prison had to be paid for by the prisoner. Housing varied from a private cell with a cleaning woman and a visiting prostitute, to simply lying on the floor with no cover. Those who died inside - and only a quarter of prisoners survived until their execution day - had to stay in Newgate as a rotting corpse until relatives found the money for the body to be released. Stephen Halliday tells the story of Newgate’s origins, the criminals it held, the punishments meted out and its rebuilding and reform. This is a compelling slice of London’s social and criminal history.

London’s Lost Route to Portsmouth
£15.99
Now £12.79
ISBN-13: 978-1860775147
P A L Vine

THE PORTSMOUTH & ARUNDEL CANAL was an extraordinary speculation and an ignominious failure. Planned to complete the inland navigation between London and Portsmouth Harbour, the construction of the waterway was strongly supported by William Huskisson, M.P., and the 3rd Earl of Egremont. Built to safeguard coastal shipping from French privateers and the hazards of the Foreland passage, the outcome of Waterloo and the development of steam vessels transformed its prospects. When it opened, in 1823, it was part barge canal, part ship canal and part open water over which barges had to rely on a primitive steam tug and a favourable tide. The navigation company suffered from poor management and lack of financial control. The contractors’ accounts were queried and left unpaid, resulting in their refusal to carry out repairs. The Portsea Ship Canal had to be abandoned almost as soon as it opened, because it leaked, and there was no money to put it right. From the Thames to Portsmouth was 115 miles and involved the passage of 52 locks. Only when there was sufficient water available and there were neither floods nor ice could the voyage be made in less than five days. But the London merchants, frustrated by the need to pay tolls to six different Navigations, continued to prefer the coastal route. Nevertheless, between 1824 and 1838 barges, escorted by Redcoats, carried many tons of bullion from Portsmouth to the Bank of England. Only the Chichester Ship Canal proved successful, but it had to be closed in the early 20th century. Today, plans are in hand for that section to be re-opened to Chichester Harbour for pleasure craft, whilst the Sussex Industrial Archaeology Society are making strenuous efforts to uncover the remains of the barge canal.

Madams - Bawds & Brothel-Keepers of London
£20.00
Now £16.00
ISBN-13: 978-0750933063
Fergus Linnane
At a time when there were almost no carreer openings for women a group of intrepid and gifted females scaled the heights of what was literally a man's world - they became bawds.

Mrs Berkely was a famous flagellant. Mother Clap - women bawds were often known as Mother - ran male brothels, or Molly Houses. Elizabeth Holland had an immense moated mansion built on Bankside and for thirty years entertained the aristocracy, including royalty. When troops attempted to stop her trade and eject her from the house, she and her girls drove them off. The Georgian bawd Charlotte Hayes held a ’Cyprian Fete’ at which gentlemen ’of the highest breeding’ first watched athletic young men copulating with nubile whores and then joined in themselves. Fergus Linnane reveals the other side of London’s years of pomp and splendour, painting a vivid picture of the bawds, their girls and their clients. Drawing on a rich variety of sources - court records, pamphlets, newspapers, diaries, letters - Madams is fresh and original, offering humour, insight and a very candid view of the sexual behaviour of Londoners through the ages.

A Grim Almanac of Jack the Ripper’s London 1870–1900
£14.99
Now £11.99
ISBN-13: 978-0750948593
Neil R. Storey

A Grim Almanac of Jack the Ripper’s London 1870-1900 is a day-by-day catalogue of 365 ghastly tales from London city. Full of dreadful deeds, macabre deaths, strange occurrences and heinous homicides, this almanac explores the darker side of the capital’s past.

Jostling for position in this cornucopia of the criminal and the curious are diverse tales of baby farmers, garrotters, murderers, poisoners, prostitutes, pimps, rioters and rebels. Other tales tell of those who walked the poverty-stricken streets of ‘the abyss’, trying to earn a few honest coppers by the most unusual and desperate occupations, from tater man to tosher. This colourful cast of characters is accompanied by accounts of prisons and punishments, as well as a liberal smattering of funerals, executions, disasters and bizarre events. If it’s horrible, if it’s ghastly, if it’s strange, it’s here – and if you have the stomach for it, then read on …

Haunted London
£9.99
Now £7.99
ISBN-13: 978-0752444598
James Clark
Taking in all the major London landmarks, this is a fantastic books for both tourists and residents.

From heart-stopping accounts of poltergeists to first-hand encounters with ghouls, it will appeal to anyone who wants to know more about London’s mysterious and murky history.

Haunted West End Theatres
£9.99
Now £7.99
ISBN-13: 978-0752445212
Ian Shillito and Becky Walsh

Take a trip behind the scenes of London’s West End theatres to discover a spooky range of spectres following centuries of performances. With eye-witness accounts from actors, backstage and front of house staff, this book reveals the most haunted theatres in London.
In researching these theatrical ghost stories the authors have held vigil in dark auditoriums, lonely stairwells and melancholy boxes, behind the scenery and underneath the stages in the search of the theatrical phantoms. From the Lyceum to the Lyric, the astounding results demonstrate the historical links between spirits and the stage. It will captivate anyone who is interested in the shadowy past of London’s haunted West End theatres.

Legal London: A Pictorial History
£15.99
Now £12.79
ISBN-13: 978-1860775079
Mark Herber

London has been home to more lawyers, for more centuries, than any other city on earth. Paris ran it neck-and-neck for a while, after which London romped away as the imperial capital of a legal system with Royal Courts of Justice, Inns of Court, Courts of Appeal, debtors prisons, the Old Bailey, Fleet Prison, and the Metropolitan Police.

London Past and Present
£18.99
Now £15.19
ISBN-13: 978-0752443041
Michael Barrett, Douglas Whitworth


Using a selection of images from London in the Postwar Years by Douglas Whitworth, Michael Barrett compares them with modern views taken from identical positions.

The images are accompanied by captions explaining the changes which have occurred. Michael Barrett’s stunning colour photography contrasts with the evocative views of the post-war years to create an important visual record of England’s capital city.

Crime and Criminals in Victorian London
£12.99
Now £10.39

ISBN-13: 978-1860773921
Adrian Gray
In this fascinating exploration of the seedy underside of Victorian London, Adrian Gray provides a rich picture of the variety of criminal activity in the city.

In this comprehensive work, familiar Dickensian themes of grisly murders and ragged street urchins are joined by other dramatic cases, which show patterns of crime and illustrate the causes and effects of changes in criminal law. The author shows how both pure greed and genuine mental illness were responsible for unpleasant cases - such as the murder of an elderly aristocrat in his bed or the poisoning of a series of ’working girls’. Changes in the law are charted, showing how new offences were created from old customs, and how the law was updated to deal with modern problems such as motor cars.
In a book that covers the complete range of crime, the reader will meet many colourful characters including Courvoisier, a murderous butler. With many gruesome details and excellent illustrations, this book will appeal to London and Victorian historians as well as the macabre-minded.

East End Murders : From Jack the Ripper to Ronnie

£12.99
Now £10.39
ISBN-13: 978-0750950695
Neil R. Storey
A revealing insight into the East End's darkest moments

Neil R. Storey has drawn on a vast array of original sources — among them witness statements, coroners' reports and court records — to produce a revealing insight into the East End's darkest moments. As well as the murders of Jack the Ripper, perhaps the most infamous in history, he looks as nine other cases in detail: the still mysterious Ratcliffe Highway Murders of 1811; Henry Wainwright, who dismembered his mistress and rolled up her remains in a carpet in 1874; Israel Lipski, whose name became a term of derision and abuse against Jews in East London for years following his conviction for the murder of a young woman in 1887; the unsolved murder of Frances Coles in 1891; the Whitechapel High Street Newspaper Shop Murder in 1904; the Houndsditch Murders and the Siege of Sydney Street in 1910, in which a robbery plotted by Russian anarchists went badly wrong; the throat-cutting William Cronin in 1925; the Bow Road Cinema Murder in 1934; and finally the shooting of George Cornell by Ronnie Kray at the Blind Beggar pub in 1966.