London Characters and Crooks (The Folio Society)

xvii, 535 pp. "...a compilation based on his ground-breaking documentary work London Labour and the London Poor. London Characters and Crooks is a highly detailed account and classification of London's Victorian poor, the people at the margins — both workers and criminals, and those that drifted precariously between both camps. Chapters on street-sellers, scavengers, beggars and underworld characters capture their culture in their own words and slang-filled language - transporting you to a world of bone grubbers, dancing dogs, park women, lucifer droppers and sneak thieves."