SOME PRESS OPINIONS
‘Most readable and interesting.... It is a mine in which the student alike of topography and of manners and customs may dig and dig again with the certainty of finding something new and interesting.’—The Times.
‘No lover of London can fail to be grateful to the late Sir Walter for his many carefully studied pictures of its ancient life, pictures often quaint and amusing, and bearing always the mark of earnest and minute research.... The general reader will find in this volume a world of interesting suggestion.’—The Daily Chronicle.
‘We are again reminded of the vast debt which London owes to the late Sir Walter Besant by the appearance of this sumptuously printed and beautifully illustrated book, the second volume of his great Survey of London—unquestionably his magnum opus, upon which his fame will chiefly rest.... A book which should be in the library of every one who takes an intelligent interest in the history and development of London.’—The Daily Telegraph.
‘A work of great interest, eminently readable, and full of curious, interesting, and original matter.’—Westminster Gazette.
‘The pen of the ready writer here is fluent; the picture wants nothing in completeness. The records of the city and the kingdom have been ransacked for facts and documents, and they are here marshalled with consummate skill. In surveying the political history of London from James I. to Queen Anne, Sir Walter Besant reveals himself as an unsparing and impartial historian, and in this respect alone the work must command our admiration and our praise. But there is also included the most vivid presentation of the story of the Great Plague and the Great Fire that has ever been brought between the covers of one book.’—The Pall Mall Gazette.
‘It is impossible to speak too highly of this endeavour to say all that is worth saying about London, and to say it in a manner which shall at once satisfy the historical student and attract public attention.’—Yorkshire Post.
‘Much has hitherto been written, both by way of fact and fiction, as well as by a blend of each, to describe London in its grievous trials of pestilence and flame; but Sir Walter Besant has here gathered together by far the most graphic and the most trustworthy accounts that have hitherto been penned.’—The Guardian.
‘The whole work is one of singular interest because the subject is treated with the lightness of touch and descriptive power not always attained by antiquarian writers.’—The Record.
‘This handsome volume furnishes a fascinating record, both pictorial and literary, of seventeenth century London, such as can be found nowhere else. To the student it will be invaluable; to the general reader with antiquarian interests and a taste for social history, a never-failing source of delight.’—The Contemporary Review.