''Street Life in London'' was a 1877 book written by Adolphe Smith with photography by John Thomson. The book is considered by some to be the first example of

social documentary photography Social documentary photography or concerned photography is the recording of what the world looks like, with a social and/or environmental focus. It is a form of documentary photography, with the aim to draw the public's attention to ongoing social ...

Production

''Street Life in London'' was a 1877 publication of a collaboration between the radical social journalist Adolphe Smith and Scottish photographer John Thomson. It was published by Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington, in London. The authors believed they were continuing the important work of

Henry Mayhew Henry Mayhew (25 November 1812 – 25 July 1887) was an English journalist, playwright, and advocate of reform. He was one of the co-founders of the satirical magazine ''Punch'' in 1841, and was the magazine's joint editor, with Mark Lemon, in ...

, who published ''

London Labour and the London Poor ''London Labour and the London Poor'' is a work of Victorian journalism by Henry Mayhew. In the 1840s, he observed, documented and described the state of working people in London for a series of articles in a newspaper, the ''Morning Chronicle'' ...

'', but that they were adding a unique value by incorporating photography to the ongoing documentation of London's working class poor.

Synopsis

The book gives the reader an insight into the daily lives of working class and poor Londoners.Angela Vanhaelen (2002
''Street life in London and the organization of labour''

History of Photography The history of photography began in remote antiquity with the discovery of two critical principles: camera obscura image projection and the observation that some substances are visibly altered by exposure to light. There are no artifacts or de ...

, 26:3, 191-204, It is arranged around photographs by Thomson with accompanying text by Smith. The texts are brief, but include detail, including information from interviewing the photograph's subjects. Subjects include flower-sellers, chimney-sweeps, shoe-blacks, chair-caners, musicians, dustmen and locksmiths.

Reception

''Street Life in London'' is considered the first or at least one of the earliest examples of

. The book described its aim "to bring before the public some account of the present condition of the London street folk, and to supply a series of faithful pictures of the people themselves." Author Emily Kathryn Morgan published ''Street Life in London: Context and Commentary'' in 2014 which addresses both the successes and failures of the original book.FREESTON, J. Street Life in London. History Today, '' . l.', v. 65, n. 4, p. 59, 2015. Disponível em: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f6h&AN=102097455&site=eds-live&scope=site . Acesso em: 20 nov. 2022.

References

1877 books Social documentary photography {{Authority control Books about London Books about poverty Books about social history Books of photographs 1877 non-fiction books