London Past and Present

Founder of the welfare state's copy. The first edition of Wheatley's historical survey of London, providing short informative profiles of London's streets, sites of interest and famous institutions. Some descriptions may seem familiar to the current reader (see Bond Street as 'the resort of the fashionable lounger'), others — like the description of Spitalfields as a district 'inhabited by weavers of silk and other poor people' — may today seem a little out of date.

Our copy bears the bookplate of William Beveridge, 1st Baron Beveridge (1879-1963). Born the son of a progressive district sessions judge in Rangpur, Bengal, William Beveridge's unyielding pursuit of social reform would define his life. Rather than pursue a lucrative career at the bar, upon leaving Oxford in 1903 Beveridge moved to London's East End to observe and understand the experiences of normal people struggling to survive in Britain's capital city at the turn of the twentieth century. His inquiry into Social Insurance and Allied Services — known simply as the Beveridge Report — produced in December 1942 was in many ways the culmination of his life's work, and laid the foundation for the modern welfare state which still operates today.

First edition, 3 vols; 8vo (25 x 16 cm); armorial bookplate to front pastedown of each volume; contemporary green cloth bindings, gilt spines, light spotting. A very good set.