Description
Book SynopsisâBeautiful and poignant' The Art Newspaper âAbsorbing... a magnificent book' Mail on Sunday The first illustrated book on mudlarking that tells the captivating stories of forgotten people through objects recovered from the river Thames. Combining insights from 200 eclectic objects discovered on the Thames foreshore, meticulous historical research and contextual illustrations, Mudlarkâd uncovers the hidden histories of forgotten people from all over the world. Beginning in each case with a particular find, Malcolm Russell tells the stories of the people who owned, made or used such objects, revealing the habits, customs and crafts not only of those living in London but also of those passing through, from continental Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and Australia. In the 18th and 19th centuries London was the busiest port in the world, exchanging goods, ideas, people and power with every continent. The Thames long acted as Londonâs water source, shipyard, thoroughfare and rubb
Trade Review'Absorbing … [a] magnificent book … beautifully illustrated' - Mail on Sunday
'Surprisingly beautiful and poignant … No matter how humble, each [artefact] is artfully photographed against slimy-green stones or driftwood. Indeed Mudlark’d is both incentive and guide to any budding time traveller' - Jacqueline Riding, The Art Newspaper
'Take[s] us on a journey of historical imagination … The book is itself a thing of beauty, with handsome illustrations and Matthew Williams-Ellis’s foreshore photographs that help us take off on flights of fancy' - Country Life
'Lavishly illustrated ... a globally-minded artefact-led exploration of the lives of "forgotten people" from Britain and beyond ... stunning foreshore photography' - Current Archaeology
'Stunningly illustrated' - World of Interiors
'What a tome! What an attention grasping delight! What an inspiration to don my larkin’ gear and catch the next falling tide! My enthusiasm for the hobby is re-born and I am rejuvenated! … This is a book that deserves, even demands, a thorough browsing on the evening before every future visit you embark on down to the Great River. Buy your copy soon!' - Ted Fletcher, The Searcher
'[An] impressively illustrated and researched volume' - Colin Thubron, The New York Review of Books
'Highly original and compelling' - Hyperallergic
'A beautiful new book' - Book and Film Globe
'The perfect reference book' - Treasure Hunting
'An outstanding book from several points of view: a handsome, well-crafted artefact, intelligently designed, printed on tight-weave matte paper rather than tacky gloss paper, written with skilful research and imagination, and garnished with evocative foreshore photographs by Matthew Williams-Ellis … I highly recommend this book' - Fortean Times
Table of ContentsIntroduction
1. Immigrants and Enslaved People
2. Criminals
3. Intimates
4. Believers
5. Entertainers
6. Queer Folk
7. Addicts
8. Traders
9. Fighters
A Mudlarking Primer
Acknowledgments
Further Reading
Index
