Limner,Luke pseud / John Leighton - London Cries & Public Edifices. Illustrated with 24 engravings - 1851

Luke Limner (pseudo) John Leighton - London Cries & Public Edifices. 1851. Illustrated with 24 engravings

John Leighton’s ‘London Cries & Public Edifices’ were published in 1851 under his pseudonym of ‘Luke Limner.’ Today Leighton is remembered primarily for his designs for book bindings but his ingenious Cries of London evoke the long-lost street life of the capital with sympathy and sly humour.

This rare early work by John Leighton, featuring drawings and descriptions of 24 London tradespeople and street-hawkers, each portrayed against the backdrop of a well-known London landmark which is also described.

The plates (engravings) are very evocative and full of character

Each of Leighton’s characters have vivid life, as if they are paying rapt attention – like the Cats’ & Dogs’ Meat Seller in Smithfield, surrounded by dogs and cats, and just waiting for an animal lover to come along with cash to feed the hungry. Some of these engravings appear to be portraits, because who would invent the one-legged Chair Mender or the flamboyant Costard Monger or the crone Watercress Seller who appears to have walked out a fairy tale? The hunched posture of the Umbrella Mender tells you everything about his profession, while the Hot Potato Seller jumping to keep warm in the snow suggests direct observation from life.

It is remarkable how many of the landmarks of 1851 stand unchanged – in the City of London, where John Soane’s Bank of England, the Mansion House and the Royal Exchange  face each other today just as they did then, and further west, Charing Cross Station and Trafalgar Square are as we know them.

At first, I thought the sellers and the buildings looked as if they were from separate drawings that had been pasted together, until I realised that this disparity is the point – the edifices of wealth and the occupations of the poor.


Title: London Cries & Public Edifices.
Author: John Leighton (Like Limner - pseudo)
Publisher : Grand and Griffith
Pages : 24
Original leather binding. Small square 4to.
14cm x 14cm

Attention to the details photographs.
Any defect not mentioned in the description but visible in the photos is considered as described and cannot give rise to any claim.

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