Neighbours and Rivals - by Louis-Sébastian Mercier Hardcover

Book Synopsis

The great French journalist Louis-Sébastien Mercier's descriptions of an optimistic, utopian 18th-century London. First English translation by Laurent Turcot and Jonathan Conlin. Contemporary illustrations in color.

The first work of great French journalist Louis-Sébastien Mercier, this seminal work of travel writing remained unpublished for over 200 years.
Mercier first traveled to London, and began recording his impressions, in 1780. An exemplar of a new form of journalistic, reflective literature, he presented emotive representations of the city as collections of experiences, habits and personalities. And differently from Dickens's London or Baudelaire's Paris, with their contrasts of opulence and misery, Mercier describes a less familiar urban environment - more optimistic, perhaps even utopian. His version of London is, in fact, a projection of his philosophical imagination - not simply a rounded portrait but also a reflection of what he hoped Paris could become.

For this first publication in English, Laurent Turcot and Jonathan Conlin's translation preserves the life and humor of Mercier's text. It is illustrated with contemporary images, with an emphasis on Thomas Rowlandson and Gabriel-Jacques de Saint-Aubin, the first Parisian flâneur-artist.

Review Quotes

"This edition is a funny little book, on matte paper in landscape format, illustrated with period artwork...It wants--nay, demands--to be read. There is much comedy to be found, not least in some of the prevailing stereotypes about Londoners and Parisians...Neighbours and Rivals, more than a travelogue, is a tract: one that calls for more pragmatism in the running of a modern city and out of which our policymakers would do well to take a leaf." --Will Hosie "Country Life"

About the Author

Laurent Turcot is a professor of history at l'Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, and specializes in the 16th to the 19th century, and in urban culture and leisure. Jonathan Conlin, a professor of modern history at the University of Southampton, specializes in modern British cultural history from the 18th century to the present, with a focus on urban history. His previous books include The Nation's Mantelpiece (Pallas Athene), Evolution and the Victorians (Bloomsbury) and Civilisation (BFI). He has just completed histories of the National Gallery and the Metropolitan Museum, as well as an acclaimed biography of Calouste Gulbenkian.