"Unseen London" shows the interiors of fifty-ish locations in London that are seldom seen by the public. Though hefty, this is obviously not a book aiming to provide in-depth information. Instead, it serves as a great source of inspiration that may help you fill out urban settings with interesting places you might not normally think of.

Peter Dazeley's photographs are fantastic and well-presented. This is probably the nicest coffee table book I've seen. Many of the images are printed in spreads, but the book opens flat, so very little is lost to the binding. The photos don't thoroughly document the locations or provide a solid sense of space, but they evoke a strong feeling of place. Every group of images feels unique, not just through the architecture, but also through the traces left by history. The focus is squarely on interiors, but I'd have liked some photos, at least small ones, of the exteriors for context.

Mark Daly's text is brief, but includes a surprising amount of historical information; it can serve as a springboard for further research. My one complaint is that it sometimes describes rooms that aren't illustrated, which is a bit of a bummer.

Though this is a 2017 edition of a 2014 book, it's no mere reprint - a number of photos are from after 2014 and the text mentions the circa 2017 fate of many of the buildings - some hopeful, some sad.