This innovative collection of essays is the first to situate comedy and laughter as central rather than peripheral to nineteenth century life. Victorian Comedy and Laughter: Conviviality,Jokes and Dissent offers new readings of the works of Charles Dickens, Edward Lear,George Eliot, George Gissing, Barry Pain and Oscar Wilde, alongside discussions of much-loved Victorian comics like Little Tich, Jenny Hill, Bessie Bellwood and Thomas Lawrence. Tracing three consecutive and interlocking moods in the period, all of the contributors engage with the crucial critical question of how laughter and comedy shaped Victorian subjectivity and aesthetic form. Malcolm Andrews, Jonathan Buckmaster and Peter Swaab explore the dream of print culture togetherness that is conviviality, while Bob Nicholson, Louise Lee, Ann Featherstone,Louise Wingrove and Oliver Double discuss the rise-on-rise of the Victorian joke — both on the page and the stage — while Peter Jones, Jonathan Wild and Matthew Kaiser consider the impassioned debates concerning old and new forms of laughter that took place at the end of the century.

Winner of the Albert J. Beveridge Award in American History. "Packed with suggestive historical detail."--

Toronto has been hailed as “a city in the making” and “the city that works.” It’s an ongoing project: in recent years Canada’s largest city has experienced transformative, exciting change. But just what does contemporary Toronto look like? This authoritative architectural guide, newly updated and expanded, leads readers on 26 walking tours—revealing the evolution of the place from a quiet Georgian town to a dynamic global city. More than 1,000 designs are featured: from modest Victorian houses to shimmering downtown towers and cultural landmarks. Over 300 photographs, 29 maps, a description of architectural styles, a glossary of architectural terms, and indexes of architects and buildings pilot readers through Toronto’s diverse cityscape. New sections illustrate the swiftly changing face of Toronto’s waterfront and design highlights across the region. Originally written by architectural journalist Patricia McHugh and enhanced with new material and insights by Globe and Mail architecture critic Alex Bozikovic, this definitive guide offers a revealing exploration of Toronto’s past and future, for the city’s visitors and locals alike.

This photographic story of three dynamic neighborhoods in Philadelphia's twenty-first ward traces the evolution of each community as defined by its architecture. From the outstanding Tudor Historic District to elegant homes near Wissahickon Avenue, East Falls is a must-see neighborhood for connoisseurs of fine domestic architecture. Manayunk, once known as the Manchester of America, still retains its European hill town character, preserved in its worker homes, churches, and mills. Roxborough has its own unique architectural profile, with suburban residences of the Victorian era and the rural setting of Upper Roxborough. Historic Ridge Avenue is dotted with venerable structures from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Brimming with nearly 500 full color photographs and archival images, and supplemented by selected biographies of the featured architects and firms, this book will charm history buffs, lovers of vintage architecture, and Philadelphia enthusiasts.