The London guide and strangers safeguard against the cheats, swindlers, and pickp

ockets that abound within the bills of mortality, forming a picture of London as
regards active life 2nd ed. collected from the verbal communications of William
Perry and others, by a gentleman who has made the police of the metropolis an o
bject of enquiry twenty-two years; 1819; J. Bumpus, London.

A comprehensive guide to help the unwitting visitor avoid falling victim to the
various and nefarious crimes abound in early 19th-century London. Written by a ge
ntleman who has made the police of the metropolis an object of enquiry twenty-tw
o years, the book is split into six main chapters: Out Door Delinquencies, Inn Door
Tricks, Miscellaneous Offences, House-Breakers, Minor Cheats, and Of Conspirators and
formers, containing within them a multitude of sub-chapters including the rather
wonderfully titled offences of Smashing, Greeks and Legs, Private Stills, Bon Ton, B
bby, and Pretenders to Literature. The book also features a handy glossary of key v
ocabulary (two pages of which are featured below). From the Introduction:
When a stranger first arrives in this overgrown city and finds upon alightin
g at the inn, that he has still some miles perhaps to go before he can see his f
riends he is naturally anxious for advice how to reach them in safety, with his
luggage. But if this be the ease with those who have got friends, what is the dr
ead of such as have a home to seek, business to look after, or place of service
to obtain, without a friend to guide their steps, or a candid person to warn the
m of their danger; to tell them of the precipices, pit falls, and moral turpitud
e, of a large proportion of the population of this great metropolis? To supply t
he place of a living friend, and in some cases to perform the necessary part of
one, by directing the stranger in the choice of companions, and what characters
he should avoid, I have compiled these sheets; in which will be found all I know
about the matter, and all I could learn out by fine-drawing of others.