This volume brings together extensive recollections of authors, publishers, auctioneers and booksellers from 1779 to 1853, based on the author's personal acquaintance with the prominent writers, artists and book publishers of the period. The book is in three sections, each one concentrating on a given area of London and the literary scene centred upon it. They are Paternoster Row, Fleet Street and The Strand. Attention is paid to different forms of publication, such as the early magazines, in which books were published by instalments, and to key personalities. There is also detailed background to some of the most important publishing houses, such as Longman, and works which were considered pivotal to their success, such as 'Rees' Cyclopaedia' and the 'Annual Review'. Engagingly written from a personal perspective, this book will be of value to historians of literature and publishing, and others interested in London's literary past.
