This selection of celebrated essays by Charles Dickens conjures up a peerless, eyewitness account of the 19th-century capital, from the rarefied world of Whitehall to working-class conviviality and blighted slums.

With a total of 26 essays, including ‘Greenwich Fair’, ‘Early Coaches’, ‘Private Theatres’, ‘A Parliamentary Sketch’, ‘Gin-Shops’ and ‘Scotland Yard’, this collection, with original illustrations by George Cruikshank, remains one of the most popular titles ever published by The Folio Society in spite of being out of print for over thirty years. It is high time, then, that a new generation of Folio members has the chance to enjoy it.