In 1896, author Arthur Morrison gained notoriety for his bleak and violent A Child of the Jago, a slum novel that captured the desperate struggle to survive among London's poorest. When a reviewer accused Morrison of exaggerating the depravity of the neighborhood on which the Jago was based, he incited the era's most contentious public debate about the purpose of realism and the responsibilities of the novelist. In his self-defense and in his wider body of work, Morrison demonstrated not only his investments as a formal artist, but also his awareness of social questions. As the first critical essay collection on Arthur Morrison and the East End, this book assesses Morrison's contributions to late-Victorian culture, especially discourses around English working-class life. Chapters evaluate Morrison in the context of Victorian criminality, child welfare, disability, housing, professionalism, and slum photography. Morrison's works are also reexamined in the light of writings by Sir Walter Besant, Clementina Black, Charles Booth, Charles Dickens, George Gissing, and Margaret Harkness. This volume features an introduction and 11 chapters by preeminent and emerging scholars of the East End. They employ a variety of critical methodologies, drawing on their respective expertise in literature, history, art history, sociology, and geography. Critical Essays on Arthur Morrison and the East End throws fresh new light on this innovative novelist of poverty and urban life.

"Learn to read and write, learn all you can, learn cunning, spare nobody and stop at nothing....Do your devilmost...for the Jago's got you!" Dicky Perrott, growing up in the notoriously criminal enclave of the Jago, listens and learns. Compelled by his family's circumstances to provide for his mother and siblings, he sharpens his skills as a boy thief. Along the way, he navigates the Jago's topsy-turvy ethics, vacillating between the rival messages of his mentors, a devious local fence and a righteous slum priest. Relentless in its bleakness and violence, A Child of the Jago captures the desperate struggle for survival in 1890s East London. This Broadview Edition provides the literary, socio-historical, and philosophical contexts vital to readers' understanding and appreciation of the novel. Historical appendices include materials on eugenics, hooliganism, women's sweated labour, cultural philanthropy, and the debate over the novel's accuracy.

A lively and multi-faceted account of Evelyn and William De Morgan, exploring a unique artistic partnership that spanned several cultural circles including the Pre-Raphaelites and Arts and Crafts movement With a partnership spanning two centuries, the Pre-Raphaelite painter Evelyn (1855-1919) and Arts and Crafts potter and author William De Morgan (1839-1917) influenced several significant art movements in nineteenth-century Britain. Despite this, their impact has been relatively overlooked in comparison with their better-known contemporaries. Evelyn & William De Morgan is the first major publication devoted to the work of either artist and their unique relationship. It draws out each artist's individuality while providing a comprehensive view of the expanded cultural milieu in which they functioned, not least with regard to new attitudes towards Victorian marriage as a working partnership. The fully illustrated publication features numerous contributions which explore the reach of the De Morgans' partnership, their political and spiritual interests, and their immersion within several influential cultural circles of the day, including Pre-Raphaelite, Arts and Crafts, and Aesthetic Movement groups. The book presents a lively and multifaceted account of the De Morgans and their creative partnership. Published in association with Delaware Art Museum Exhibition Schedule: Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington October 22, 2022-January 29, 2023 Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA September 17, 2023- January 7, 2024 Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL January 27, 2024-May 2024