The English Spy

London in the 1820s as a young man about town saw it: the gaming hells, the prize-ring, the theatres, Newgate, Almack's and the Fleet, with real people barely disguised. Westmacott ran a scandal sheet, was thrashed in public more than once for his libels, and wrote this as a guided tour with Cruikshank and Rowlandson supplying the plates. It is a coarse book and an unmatched record of the city's underside. Its 124 original illustrations have been carefully restored and coloured for this edition.