eishiya reviewed London by Davies, Philip
Even more great art reference
5 stars
Like its predecessors Lost London and Panoramas of Lost London, London: The Great Transformation is a collection of 19th to early 20th century photographs with some brief context for each image. Pulling from more sources than the prior books, this one is more varied, and includes more photos of the working people of the city. Some of these, like those from the 1877 Street Life in London, are commonly found online, but many were new to me.
Davies, as in his other photo books, often points out little details and mentions when they're common or uncommon, which I find very useful. Unfortunately, sometimes the photos are reproduced too small to really see those details. Most of them are of a decent size and some are quite large, and printed in great quality as always. The paper in this book is also just feels nice to touch.
The images span from …
Like its predecessors Lost London and Panoramas of Lost London, London: The Great Transformation is a collection of 19th to early 20th century photographs with some brief context for each image. Pulling from more sources than the prior books, this one is more varied, and includes more photos of the working people of the city. Some of these, like those from the 1877 Street Life in London, are commonly found online, but many were new to me.
Davies, as in his other photo books, often points out little details and mentions when they're common or uncommon, which I find very useful. Unfortunately, sometimes the photos are reproduced too small to really see those details. Most of them are of a decent size and some are quite large, and printed in great quality as always. The paper in this book is also just feels nice to touch.
The images span from the late 1850s into the 1940s, concentrated in the 1890s to 1900s, with addresses and dates given whenever possible, almost entirely exteriors. I found the older images particularly interesting, showing the Tudor-, Stuart-, and Georgian-era townhouses, pubs, cottages, and streets when they still made up the majority of the city rather than individual survivals after the many clearances and redevelopments of the 19th and 20th centuries. As the book's subtitle reminds us, this was a period of great change, and it's only through seeing what came before that we can appreciate that.
Like the other books in this series, this one stands alone and Davies is not afraid to repeat information from earlier books when it's good context for a photograph. So, if you're looking for a great photo book about London, this is a great choice, as are the others. As I wrote in my review about Panoramas of Lost London, that book is probably the best choice if you're looking for large images to get the details right. If you're less interested in details and want a broader picture, then get The Great Transformation and/or Lost London, which have many more photos, but at a smaller size.