Fully searchable texts detailing accounts of over 197,000 criminal trials held at London's Central Criminal Court. The crimes tried were mostly felonies (predominantly theft), but also include some of the most serious misdemeanours, providing historical insight into the daily lives of those who participated in the proceedings.

This book surveys the lives and experiences of hundreds of thousands of eighteenth-century non-elite Londoners in the evolution of the modern world.

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.

Vic Keegan's Lost London (2) is the second of two books that together have taken over six years of research and are still yielding surprises Vic had no idea that the mundane Highbury and Islington station used to look like an Italian Palazzo before being shamefully pull down, nor that there was an extraordinary cricket match in Walworth between a team from Greenwich with only one leg and the other from Chelsea with only one arm, nor that in 1810, a black bare knuckle fighter was swindled out of being world champion by white subterfuge. There are dozens of similar tales which he hopes you will enjoy. The author spent most of his working life at the Guardian writing among other things a fortnightly economics column for nearly 25 years before finishing off with a weekly column on consumer technology ranging from mobile phones to virtual worlds. He has written six poetry books including London My London with over 80 poems about the capital and the Thames. He is married to Rosie with two children Dan and Chris. David Aaronovitch's review of the first book is here: https: //www.onlondon.co.uk/book-review-vic-keegans-lost-london/

Reminiscent of Year of Wonders, a captivating debut novel of fireworks, fortune, and a young woman's redemption It is 1752 and seventeen-year-old Agnes Trussel arrives in London pregnant with an unwanted child. Lost and frightened, she finds herself at the home of Mr. J. Blacklock, a brooding fireworks maker who hires Agnes as an apprentice. As she learns to make rockets, portfires, and fiery rain, she slowly gains his trust and joins his quest to make the most spectacular fireworks the world has ever seen. Jane Borodale offers a masterful portrayal of a relationship as mysterious and tempestuous as any the Brontës conceived. Her portrait of 1750s London is unforgettable, from the grimy streets to the inner workings of a household where little is as it seems. Through it all, the clock is ticking, for Agnes's secret will not stay secret forever. Deeply atmospheric and intimately told from Agnes's perspective, The Book of Fires will appeal to readers of Geraldine Brooks, Sarah Waters, Sheri Holman, and Michel Faber.

This volume, first published in 1977, brings together eleven studies of crime and the administration of the criminal law in England during the early modern period. They represent a variety of approaches – legal, historical and sociological – to the study of historical crime. The initial essay in this study, which is written from a legal standpoint, is the first coordinated account of the structure of criminal law administration in this formative period. It is followed by investigations into the nature and incidence of crime, court appearance and punishment, separate studies of witchcraft, infanticide and poaching, and an account of conditions in eighteenth-century Newgate. This book will be of particular interest to students of criminology and history.

The original edition of Unseen London. Peter Dazeley has gained access to the hidden interiors of some of London's most iconic buildings, from Tower Bridge to Battersea Power Station, Big Ben to the Old Bailey. His photographs of these buildings - some derelict, but many still working - are astonishing. Here is a collection of some 50 extraordinary locations, with a thoughtful text by Mark Daly which tells the story of how each of these places was created, how they are used, and what they reveal about the currents of power flowing through the city. Unseen London takes you backstage at some of the capital's great theatres, into the changing rooms of some of our greatest temples of sport, into the heart of the Establishment, the boiler room of the city's infrastructure and behind the scenes at some of the most opulent buildings in the Square Mile.