The Making of Mr Gray's Anatomy tells the story of one of the most iconic scientific books ever published: a textbook of anatomy that is still a household name 150 years since its first edition. It is the story of the remarkable and dedicated characters who created it, of poverty, class, and science and society in Victorian London.

When Gray's Anatomy appeared in 1858, the book rapidly became not just a bestseller, but the standard work. Indeed, Gray's Anatomy is the only textbook of human anatomy continuously in print for the last 150 years. The Making of Gray's Anatomy tells the fascinating story of this remarkable book. Providing a wealth of historical context, Ruth Richardson examines both the mid-Victorian medical world in which Henry Gray and the brilliant illustrator Henry Vandyke Carter operated and the vigorous publishing industry in London at that time. Along the way, Richardson explores the scientific and...

It's one of the best known scenes in all of literature--young Oliver Twist, with empty bowl in hand, asking "Please Sir. I want some more." In Dickens and the Workhouse, historian Ruth Richardson recounts how she discovered the building that was quite possibly the model for the workhouse in Dickens' classic novel. Indeed, Richardson reveals that Dickens himself lived only a few doors down from this notorious building--once as a child and once again as a young journalist. This book offers a colorful portrait of London in Dickens' time, looking at life in the streets and in the workhouse...

The recent discovery that, as a young man, Charles Dickens lived only a few doors from a major London workhouse made headlines worldwide. This book, by the historian who did the sleuthing behind this exciting discovery, presents the story for the first time, and shows that the two periods during which Dickens lived in that part of London were profoundly important to his subsequent writing career.