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books with similar titles
There have been at least three books with "London Characters" as the start of their titles. In 1851
appeared London Characters and Crooks by Henry Mayhew (1812-1887). In 1870 appeared
London Characters and the Humorous Side of London Life. In 1874 appeared London Characters:
Illustrations of the Humor, Pathos, and Peculiarities of London Life, which has the sixteen sections
of London Characters and the Humorous Side of London Life (1870), followed by eight additional
sections. Since I think that several of the first sixteen sections were not written by Henry Mayhew,
I am wondering why only his name appeared on the title page as the author of the 1874 book. In the
"Billingsgate" section of London Characters and the Humorous Side of London Life (1870),
Henry Mayhew is twice mentioned by name:
"Some years ago Mr. Henry Mayhew, in a series of remarkable articles in the 'Morning Chronicle,'
gave a tabulated statement of the probable amount of this trade; and about five or six years later,
Dr. Wynter, in the 'Quarterly Review,' quoted the opinion of some Billingsgate authority, that the
statement was probably not in excess of the truth.... Another learned authority, Mr. Braithwaite
Poole, when he was goods manager of the London and North-Western Railway Company, brought
the shell-fish as well as the other fish into his calculations, and startled us with such quantities as
fifty million mussels, seventy million cockles, three hundred million periwinkles, five hundred million
shrimps, and twelve hundred million herrings. In short, putting this and that together, he told us that
about four thousand million fish, weighing a quarter of a million tons, and bringing two million
sterling, were sold annually at Billingsgate! Generally speaking, Mr. Poole's figures make a
tolerably near approach to those of Mr. Mayhew; and therefore it may possibly be that we
Londoners—men and women, boys, girls, and babies—after supplying country folks— at about
two fish each every average day, taking our fair share between turbot, salmon, and cod at one
end of the series, and sprats, periwinkles and shrimps at the other."
original purpose of this transcription
John McDonnell's transcription, in 2001, was commenced with the idea of providing Sherlockians a
glimpse of London during the Victorian Era, the setting for most of the Sherlock Holmes stories.
The 1870 date comes about a decade before Holmes and Watson moved into 221B Baker Street.
So some of the book's information does not apply. It mentions the court officer rank of "serjeant",
abolished in 1880. The building described in the "Billingsgate" section was torn down in 1875. But
much of what the book describes would apply to a large degree to the time of Holmes and Watson:
some correspondencies with Sherlock Holmes stories
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