Open House
The idea of this 'open house' page is to host writing and images which relate to London and literature - factual, creative, as you wish. Do please use the contact page to offer or send in contributions. I hope you enjoy what you find here.
London's Battlefield
Here's the rarely seen dust jacket of an early Graham Greene novel. As far as I can make out, it only graced the first edition.
It's a Battlefield was published in 1934 and - as the design suggests - it is very much a London novel.
I know nothing about the designer, but it is quite a striking representation of the capital city. I can think of few covers which quite so successfully give menace to a map.
A Jew and an Arab in 1960s London:
Baron's 'The Lowlife' and Ghali's 'Beer in the Snooker Club'
Susie Thomas's review of two marvellous, and recently republished, novels of 1960s London is posted here with her permission. It first appeared in the Literary London online journal, which is strongly recommended.
Nevinson's London Low Life
I came across this on an internet search - a review from the 'New York Times' in 1895 of the American edition of one of the best, and most overlooked, of London slum novels. Short stories in this case - H.W. Nevinson's Neighbours of Ours, written before but published just after Arthur Morrison's more sensationalist Tales of Mean Streets. This is an intelligent review, nicely written, and a fair assessment of Nevinson's book.
Josie McQuail - 'The Secret Origins of William Blake'
Josie describes this as 'an apocryphal version of the truth' about William Blake's visit to a London Foundling hospital - it contains documents included with the permission of the Coram Foundation. (Posted September 2010).
