Pierce Egan's Life in London
Information
Description
Described as ‘a faithful Portraiture of High & Low Life’ from the West End to the East End, Pierce Egan’s comical monthly publication Life in London was one of the popular sensations of its day. The central characters – Tom, Jerry and Logic – were well-heeled young men about town, keen to see ‘a bit of life’ in the poorer districts of London. Their escapades and misadventures were largely autobiographical, being drawn from the lives of Egan himself and his illustrators, George and Robert Cruikshank and Isaac Richard.
One of the key achievements of Egan’s Life in London was using contemporary slang as the basis of its style. An East End pub is described as follows:
Every cove that put in an appearance was quite welcome, colour or country considered no obstacle … The group was motley indeed – Lascars, blacks, jack-tars, coal-heavers, dustmen, women of colour, old and young, and a sprinkling of the remnants of once fine girls, and all jigging together.
As a result of the success of Life in London, the names Tom and Jerry became proverbial for young men causing disorder, though there is no solid evidence to suggest that they influenced the creation of the cartoon cat and mouse duo of same name.
How does this relate to Charles Dickens?
Life in London may not have been a direct influence on the young Charles Dickens, but its success did help create the public taste for street talk and novel phraseology in which Dickens’s early fiction abounds.
- Full title:
- Life in London
- Published:
- 1823, London
- Format:
- Book / Illustration / Image
- Creator:
- Pierce Egan
- Usage terms
- Public Domain
- Held by
- British Library
- Shelfmark:
- 838.i.2.
This item is featured in:
Explore further
Related articles
Henry Mayhew’s London Labour and the London Poor
- Article by:
- Mary L Shannon
- Themes:
- London, Poverty and the working classes
London Labour and the London Poor is a key work in the development of investigative journalism. Dr Mary L Shannon describes how Henry Mayhew conducted numerous interviews with street-sellers, sweepers and sewer-hunters, in order to share their stories with the reading public.
The rise of cities in the 18th century
- Article by:
- Matthew White
Cities expanded rapidly in 18th century Britain, with people flocking to them for work. Matthew White explores the impact on street life and living conditions in London and the expanding industrial cities of the North.
The rise of cities in the 18th century
- Article by:
- Matthew White
- Theme:
- Georgian society
Cities expanded rapidly in 18th-century Britain, with people flocking to them for work. Matthew White explores the impact on street life and living conditions in London and the expanding industrial cities of the north.
Related collection items
Related works
Oliver Twist
Created by: Charles DickensCharles Dickens’s (1812-1870) second novel, originally published in serial parts 1837-39, and as a three ...
Share this page
Please consider the environment before printing