‘Rich in wonderful contemporary details gleaned from newspapers and archives, Jackson’s study is a vivid account of enormous challenges faced by a city expanding at an unprecedented rate’ —P.D. Smith, Guardian
‘Vivid, scholarly, illuminating, funny, well written and beautifully illustrated, a model of its kind’ —Piers Brendon, Independent ‘This is a fascinating work that will engage both those interested in Victorians in general and London in particular’ —Stephen Halliday, BBC History Magazine ‘Jackson handles his complex, sometimes technical, often revolting material with immense skill … and a sharp eye for telling detail and illuminating anecdote’ —Alan McNee, Times Literary Supplement ‘Rich, illuminating and delightful … A triumph of popular scholarship’ —Richard Barnett, Lancet ISB N 978-0-300-21611-0
YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS NEW HAVEN AND LONDON
yalebooks.com www.yalebooks.co.uk
9 780300 216110
DIRTY OLD LONDON
‘Jackson considers in fascinating, sometimes gruesome detail, the filth and nuisances of the time … Utterly engrossing in its own right, Dirty Old London also serves as an illuminating companion to Victorian literature’ —Jo Baker, New York Times Book Review
T HE VIC T OR IA N F IG HT AGAINST FILTH
‘A tightly argued, meticulously researched history of sanitation that reads like a novel’ —Paula Byrne, The Times
LEE JACKSON
Lee Jackson guides us through the muddy streets, squalid slums and decrepit graveyards of the Victorian metropolis, wading through stinking sewers and sooty fog, introducing us to the men and women who bravely struggled to stem a rising tide of filth in nineteenthcentury London.
DIRTY OLD LEE JACKSON
LONDON THE V I CTOR I AN F I G H T
AGAINST FILTH ‘A truly Victorian treat: shocking, entertaining, educational and grisly’ —Catharine Arnold