THE FASCINATION
OF LONDON
HAMMERSMITH,
FULHAM AND PUTNEY
The Project Gutenberg EBook of Hammersmith, Fulham and Putney, by
Geraldine Edith Mitton and John Cunningham Geikie
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Title: Hammersmith, Fulham and Putney - The Fascination of London
Author: Geraldine Edith Mitton and John Cunningham Geikie
Editor: Sir Walter Besant
Release Date: January 7, 2007 [EBook #20310]
Language: English
Produced by Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
FULHAM PALACE.
The Fascination of London
HAMMERSMITH, FULHAM AND PUTNEY
BY
G. E. MITTON
AND
J. C. GEIKIE
EDITED BY
SIR WALTER BESANT
LONDON
ADAM & CHARLES BLACK
1903
[Pg vii]
PREFATORY NOTE
A survey of London, a record of the greatest of all cities, that should
preserve her history, her historical and literary associations, her mighty
buildings, past and present, a book that should comprise all that Londoners
love, all that they ought to know of their heritage from the past—this was the
work on which Sir Walter Besant was engaged when he died.
As he himself said of it: "This work fascinates me more than anything else
I've ever done. Nothing at all like it has ever been attempted before. I've been
walking about London for the last thirty years, and I find something fresh in it
every day."
Sir Walter's idea was that two of the volumes of his survey should contain a
regular and systematic perambulation of London by different persons, so that the
history of each parish should be complete in itself. This was a very original
feature in the great scheme, and one in which he took the keenest interest.
Enough has been[Pg
viii] done of this section to warrant its issue in the form
originally intended, but in the meantime it is proposed to select some of the
most interesting of the districts and publish them as a series of booklets,
attractive alike to the local inhabitant and the student of London, because much
of the interest and the history of London lie in these street associations.
The difficulty of finding a general title for the series was very great, for
the title desired was one that would express concisely the undying charm of
London—that is to say, the continuity of her past history with the present
times. In streets and stones, in names and palaces, her history is written for
those who can read it, and the object of the series is to bring forward these
associations, and to make them plain. The solution of the difficulty was found
in the words of the man who loved London and planned the great scheme. The work
"fascinated" him, and it was because of these associations that it did so. These
links between past and present in themselves largely constitute The Fascination
of London.
G. E. M.
