London Heritage

Michael Jenner

Published by Michael Joseph , hardcover with dustjacket, illustrated

Everyone who reads this absorbing book will look at London with new eyes. London is a city of immense historical wealth, accumulated over a period of almost 2,000 years, making it one of the most fascinating in the world. Michael Jenner pieces together that rich past, bringing it to life and pointing out details which even the native Londoner might not have noticed. His lively and informative text provides a concise historical background; and his first-class photographs, which proudly and strikingly display the physical elements of the metropolis that survive to tell the tale of centuries past, inspire a new appreciation and awareness of the visual testimony of London's heritage.

Highlighting the most significant and interesting aspects of London's evolution, the author looks not only at London's major historical landmarks – the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Hampton Court, St Paul's Cathedral, Nash's terraces around Regent's Park – but also at the less obvious structures which more eloquently describe the everyday life and style of the Londoners, without whom the city would not have been – the elegant Georgian squares of Bloomsbury, an old operating theatre in Southwark, the Ironmongers' Almshouses in Shoreditch, Liverpool Street Station, Edwardian mansion blocks and department stores.

Thus he demonstrates London's growth, from its Roman beginnings to the summit of urban achievement attained by 1914, showing the forces that shaped its development, and the architects and personalities who determined its fabric. He seeks out many historic faces of the city which are often hidden or subtly disguised; and through the discerning lens of his camera, he isolates period details from the din and clamour of the present.

Pictures and text combine to capture the continual change, complexity and diversity of a living city. A guide and a book of history and architecture all in one, London Heritage is a glorious portrait; reading it, visitors and Londoners alike will be stimulated, informed and intrigued.