This Christmas, our Booksellers have been busy curating gifting guides to suit all. Whether you're buying for that cousin who lives to travel, a Cricket obsessed uncle; looking for the perfect gift for little ones, big ones or difficult ones, we've got you covered.
Presenting our Gift Guide for Londoners:
Forgotten London
Forgotten London
Peter Ackroyd
No city shaped the modern world quite like London – a powerhouse of trade, finance and empire, the centre of global influence in the nineteenth century. But beyond the familiar stories of power and politics, its true life played out in the streets, where market traders, music hall crowds and factory workers gave it its vitality, its light and its shadows. Forgotten London uncovers its stories, bringing to life the highs and lows of those who made the city what it was. Covering the transformative years from the Victorian era to the Second World War, this richly illustrated book – featuring rare photographs, colourised images and period artwork – immerses readers in a side of London often overlooked. With Peter Ackroyd’s masterful storytelling, it offers an unforgettable journey into the city’s past. Step into its streets, meet its people – and see London as you’ve never seen it before.
Capital Christie
Capital Christie
Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie is recognized throughout the world as the writer of remarkable country house mysteries and ingenious murders set in faraway countries. Yet many of her books and stories were set in the city she new best and for many years called home: London. From Poirot's flat in Whitehaven Mansions to Scotland Yard, the Old Bailey to Harley Street, Lyons Tea Rooms to the Savoy, Paddington Station to the London Underground, Agatha Christie knew and loved London, and mined it for its rich seam of storytelling opportunities. 100 years after the first publication of 'Traitor Hands', the short story that became 'Witness for the Prosecution', this collection includes this original thriller, along with eleven other London mysteries featuring all the Christie faithfuls: Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, Tommy and Tuppence, Harley Quin, Parker Pyne and Ariadne Oliver.
The Boroughs of London
The Boroughs of London
Mike Hall (author), Matt Brown (author)
Cartographer and illustrator Mike Hall is renowned for his retro-themed print collection of boldly coloured, highly detailed maps of every London borough, inspired by classic 1960s graphic design. Published to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the boroughs’ establishment, The Boroughs of London brings together all of Mike’s London maps in one elegant volume to pore over. From well-known, much-visited central London boroughs like Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to less famous, further-flung suburban areas such as Bexley and Hillingdon, this book provides endless revelations about one of the greatest cities of the world, borough by borough. It’s the perfect book for London-dwellers, London visitors and London obsessives, history fans, cartophiles and graphic design aficionados. Readers will want to visit every borough!
Dark London
Dark London
Dr. Drew Gray
Explore over 100 tales of this morbid history, case-by-case, with social historian Dr Drew Gray, a specialist in the history of crime and punishment. Who were the London Burkers, for example, whose ringleader confessed to stealing and selling nearly 1,000 dead bodies to keen 1830s anatomists? What was ‘The Whitechapel Tragedy’ of 1875, and who was its unfortunate headless victim? Why was there so much public panic about crime in Victorian London, and how did the city’s notoriously rough prisons, courts, workhouses and houses of correction deal with its perpetrators? Dark London brings together the history of the city’s seamier side, picking out the most scandalous, curious and bizarre aspects of London’s shadowy and fascinating underbelly.
Why Is Downing Street Painted Black?
Why Is Downing Street Painted Black?
Jonnie Fielding
Have you ever tried to find a street named Bond Street? (Spoiler alert: it doesn’t exist!) Did you know you can’t dine for 13 at the Savoy? At least not without a cat joining you… And have you heard about the bus that jumped Tower Bridge? As a walking tour guide for 15 years, Jonnie Fielding has made it his mission to uncover all there is to know about London, from forgotten facts to the history hiding in plain sight. Packed full of pub-quiz trivia and bespoke illustrations, Why Is Downing Street Painted Black? includes 365 of his favourite quirks, anomalies and eccentricities from all over town. So whether you live in London, would love to live in London or just love a great fun fact, Jonnie is guaranteed to reignite your fascination with this weird and wonderful city.
Songs of Seven Dials
Songs of Seven Dials
Matt Houlbrook
Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Seven Dials was one of London’s most diverse neighbourhoods, home to migrant and working-class communities, bohemian clubs and cafes. But business leaders and city planners had other ideas. Beginning with a rancorous libel trial of 1927, in which a Sierra Leonean café owner and his wife confronted the racist newspaper that destroyed their business, Matt Houlbrook reveals the surprising history of this remarkable neighbourhood. He traces how tensions that simmered on the streets and finally exploded in court betrayed the politics of urban ‘improvement’ and the ‘colour bar’. Underlying the trial was a series of troubling questions that would define Britain in the twentieth century – about race, class and the boundaries of belonging, gentrification and the kind of city London would become. Imaginative, powerful and deeply moving, Songs of Seven Dials is an important new history of London in the 1920s and 1930s.
The London Club
The London Club
Andrew Jones (author), Laura Hodgson (inset photographer)
London has more members’ clubs than any other city. There are clubs for everyone: from actors, plutocrats, aristocrats and bishops to sailors, soldiers, fishermen and spies, as well as journalists, jockeys, architects and æsthetes. Andrew Jones opens the door to 46 of the most beautiful, interesting and unusual of these clubs, presenting 300 years of architecture and design. The London Club features the oldest clubs in London as well as the most recent, with perfectly preserved interiors, original furniture and extraordinary collections. From bohemian to bling, shabby to chic, classical and brutal, this is a celebration of variety and beauty, with newly commissioned photographs by Laura Hodgson.
From Hackney, With Love
From Hackney, With Love
Richard Yeboah
For so many decades, Hackney was the pinnacle of the dynamic multicultural spirit of modern Britain, demonstrated by the borough's vibrant and energetic streets and often controversial political, cultural and socio-economic character. But today, the Hackney that long-standing residents once treasured seems to be disappearing. The borough's diverse working-class communities - who survived the run-down council estates, the overwhelming deprivation and the postcode wars - are increasingly being pushed out by the middle classes who buy up their homes, rename their shops and reshape their neighbourhoods. How did Hackney go from being one of the poorest and most uninviting places in the country to being one of the most sought-after locations? In these pages, lifelong resident Richard Yeboah uncovers the borough's lively history, revealing the uncomfortable story of how gentrification has transformed Hackney, for better or for worse.
After London
After London
Simon Roberts
Iconic London landmarks seen through Simon Roberts’ unsettling, blurred lens. Both beautiful and disturbing at once, these portraits of just-recognisable locations in London show the city in a new and unusual light. The scenes are familiar but distant, as if shown after some catastrophic event. The tranquil, painterly palette lends to the emotional dissonance: this is the London we all know but somehow it is alien too.
Historic Pub Crawls Through London, Vol. 1
Historic Pub Crawls Through London, Vol. 1
Thomas J. Vosper
After spontaneously hosting a birthday pub crawl through London's finest alehouses, Thomas J. Vosper was inundated with requests from friends and family to make it a regular occurrence. And so, Historic Pub Crawls was born; a curated guide of fun, accessible and fact-filled walks which have taken social media by storm. Covering areas such as Greenwich, Kings Cross, London Bridge and Covent Garden, this guide takes you on expertly curated walks through 10-15 historic pubs across the heart of the capital. Sip a pint overlooking Parliament, wander past the ancient Tower of London, enjoy a riverside stroll near Shakespeare's Globe, or take in the stunning sights of St. Paul's Cathedral. Whether you're a history buff, a beer enthusiast, looking for the perfect gift for your dad... or just up for a great day out, this book is your ticket to unforgettable pub adventures. Also available: Historic Pub Crawls Through London, Vol. 2
More Gift Books for Londoners
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More Gifts for Londoners
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