William S. Brunton (fl. 1859-71) created most of these scenes. According to Simon Houfe’s Dictionary of 19th Century British Book Illustrators, he signed his work with arrow-pierced hearts or “WB,” and a few of these scenes have “Brunton.” Not all these half-page plates are accompanied by explanatory texts, and those that are vary widely in quality and approach, with narrators as different as a monkey in the zoo and an eight-year-old at the beach. One, “Evans’ Supper Rooms,’ takes the form of a conversation in which Thomas Carlyle, Charles Dickens, and Wilkie Collins take part. — George P. Landow

[*** = part of the series “A Day’s Work in the City by One of the Underpaid”]

London Amusements

London life and business

Getting There

Scenes from Elsewhere


Last modified 6 June 2018