TWICE ROUND THE CLOCK; OR THE HOURS OF THE DAY AND NIGHT IN LONDON.

London : Houlston & Wright, [1859]. First edition. Vivid sketches of London life, hour by hour - Billingsgate Market at 4 a.m., printing The Times at 5, Covent Garden Market at 6, and so on through the day - commuters, in court, a fashionable marriage, the London Docks, auctions, clubs, a theatrical green room, etc., until a late debate in the House of Commons, a Bal Masque, and Bow Street police station in the early hours of the morning round off the day. "London scenes of every kind, and London people of every grade, he knows thoroughly; indeed, more remarkable even than the microscopic accuracy of his descriptions is the universality of the knowledge which enables him to describe ... he has thoroughly dissected London life, and taken up and laid bare the minutest artery" (Illustrated Times, 29th October 1859). Demy 8vo (22cm). xii,(5)-392pp. Portrait frontispiece and forty-seven wood-engravings of London scenes crowded with life by William McConnell (1833-1867). Original orange-brown cloth, elaborately patterned, by Leighton, Son & Hodge, with their ticket; some very minor rubbing and wear; internally a handful of spots, but a very good copy of a sparkling contribution to the literature of London. Ownership inscription of Jack Simmons; occasional pencil annotation.