The Day Parliament Burned Down

Great Britain: Oxford University Press. Near Fine/Near Fine. 2012. 1st Edition 1st Impression. Cloth. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" Tall Octavo 9780199646708 Hardback Hardcover. The Day Parliament Burned Down. Very slight foxing to edge. The events of 16 October 1834 were, to contemporaries, utterly shocking. Yet today this national catastrophe is a forgotten disaster, not least because Barry and Pugin's monumental new Palace of Westminster has obliterated all memory of its ancient predeccsor. In this, the first full length book on the subject, Director of Parliamentary Archives Caroline Shenton unfolds the gripping story of the fire over the course of that fat3eful day and night. In the process, she paints a skilful portrait of the political and social context of the time, including details of the slums of Westminster and the frenzied expansion of the West End; the plight of the London Irish; child labour; sinecures and corruption in high places; fire-fighting techniques and floating engines; the Great Reform Act and the new Poor Law; Captain Swing and arson at York Minster, the parlous state of public buildings and records in the Georgian period; and above all the symbolism which many contemporaries saw in the spectacular fall of a national icon. Illustrated. 333 pp. (We carry a wide selection of titles in The Arts, Theology, History, Politics, Social and Physical Sciences. academic and scholarly books and Modern First Editions, Reference books ,and all types of Academic Literature.) .