THE WRITING OF URBAN HISTORIES IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND

First edition, first printing. Original blue cloth lettered in gilt to the spine, in dustwrapper. A fine copy, the binding square and firm, the cloth and gilt bright, the contents clean throughout. In the near fine, unclipped dustwrapper, showing the merest wear to spine tips and one or two light surface marks. Scarce in the original cloth (remaining available in digital print-on-demand form).

"This book examines a hitherto neglected genre of literature, and provides an analysis of both eighteenth-century urban culture and local historical scholarship. Rosemary Sweet challenges the conventional view that by the eighteenth century antiquarian studies had stagnated and lost their vigour. [...] With its comprehensive survey of the work of local historians, this study adds significantly to our knowledge of urban improvement and the ethos of local history, and will also provide an important insight into the nature of civil society in eighteenth-century England" (from the jacket). "This is an impressive piece of scholarship and a remarkably wide-ranging work – certainly the broadest and most comprehensive study of urban histories to date." (Jon Stobart, 'Urban History' August 1999)