City of Encounters - Thomas Burke (First Edition, 1932)
BURKE, Thomas. City of Encounters: A London Divertissement. London: Constable & Co, 1932.
First edition. A scarce title on London from a true connoisseur of the metropolis, its boroughs, streets, and inhabitants. A true London flâneur, Burke urges the reader to explore the city without guide books and maps – they are useless, ‘throw them away and wander’, he writes. Mixing memoir with captivating tales about London and Londoners, Burke weaves a vivid and atmospheric story starring writers, actors, eccentrics, urchins, and other denizens of the great metropolis. In one of the chapters, Burke recalls his job at the Cazenove-Perris literary agency whose clients included H.G. Wells, Prince Kropotkin, and Ernest Shackleton. One of the most fascinating chapters features Burke’s friend and Londoner, Charlie Chaplin, with an interesting analysis on the links between music hall and film.
372 pp. 8vo, original cloth, some fading to top/bottom margin of boards and spine. Some loss to the spine of dust jacket with a corresponding patch of fading to the cloth on the spine. A good copy in the attractive original dust jacket.