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UPTON, CHRIS: : Living Back-to-Back

UK.CHICHESTER,WEST SUSSEX.PHILLIMORE & CO.LTD.,2005.

ISBN 1860773214.

UK,Qrto HB+dw/dj,1st edn.FINE+/FINE.No owner inscrptn and no price-clip to dw/dj.Bright, crisp,clean,glossy laminated,monochrome photographic illustrated dw/dj panels,with gold and black lettering; with negligible shelf-wear or creasing to edges and corners - no nicks or tears present.Top +fore-edges bright and clean; contents bright,tight,clean,solid and sound - pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corner tips,appears unread - apart from my own collation.Publisher's bright,crisp,clean, sharp-cornered,original plain black cloth boards with bright,crisp,blocked gilt letters to spine/backstrip and immaculate b/w 18thC reproduction scenic aspects of Birmingham illustrated endpapers.UK,Qrto HB+dw/dj,1st edn,v-ixpp+1- 166pp [paginated] includes separate contents+ illustration lists/tables,acknowledgements,10 chapters,profuse historical+contemporary b/w illustration reproductions,maps and photographs throughout the text and the book,a bibliography and an index; plus [unpaginated] half-title page with b/w reproduction illustrated frntis to its reverse and a title page. Back-to-Backs were once the commonest form of housing in England.Built in rows or courts or blocks,the back-to-back was home to the majority of working people in Victorian cities.Though there were half a million of them,they have almost entirely vanished from our urban townscape.The miraculous survival of one single court in the middle of Birmingham (UK),now owned by the National Trust and open as a museum,is the starting point of this book. . . . The author,a widely respected historian,uses a mixture of documentary evidence and oral history to uncover a fascinating corner of our common past and tell the story of the folk who lived in Court 15. Such people are in all our family trees: but each is unique - a glass eye maker from Birmingham,a Jewish watch-maker from Poland,a tailor from St. Kitts,and a little girl who used to sleep in the entry.They,and others like them,tell the story of life in 19th- and 20th-century Britain,in good times and bad,from the boom years of Victorian expansion to the Hungry Thirties and since . . . Dr Upton does not confine his narrative to domestic housing and demographic development.In his inimitable style,he explores such practical matters as: What was it like to live in a house with only one bedroom and no running water? Where did the bugs come from? And how did eleven families share two toilets? But,greatly widening the interest and importance of this book,Court 15 has another tale to tell - of where we live and why we live there.Why did the population of Britain move so readily into cities in the early 19thC and move away just as rapidly in the 1960s? At a time when finding a place to live is once again a big issue,the rise and fall of the back-to-back is a sobering tale of how our nation houses its people.Thus the book has much wider than West Midlands appeal and interest,using,as it does,the history of Court 15 to illuminate the development of urban housing. Please contact seller,because of the weight/value of this item for correct, insured shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page! N.B. ALL buyers please note,stocks' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded,after order's receipt and before the order's despatch,especially if the item(s) are offered either P+p included/FREE. ** N.B. US/Canada customers please be aware: Standard AIRMAIL postage from UK to these destinations can now cost more than the price of the book! If speed is not of the essence,then Economy rate is recommended - at approx. anything from a 1/3rd to 1/2 of the standard US AIR quote/rate - sometimes arriving sooner than the 42 days - but not always. **

UK,Qrto HB+dw/dj,1st edn.
Not SIGNED.

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