Life and Labour of the People in London

The first edition was published in two volumes as Life and Labour of the People, Vol.

[1] The second edition was entitled Life and Labour of the People in London, and was produced in 9 volumes 1892–97.

A third edition, running to a grand total of seventeen volumes appeared 1902–3.

[2] A noteworthy feature of the study was the production of maps describing poverty (see illustration on the right).

[3] The notebooks used to carry out this investigation are held at the Archives Division of the British Library of Political and Economic Science (London School of Economics and Political Science).

Part of Booth's poverty map showing Whitechapel 1889. The red areas are "well-to-do" and black areas are the "lowest class...occasional labourers, street sellers, loafers, criminals and semi-criminals".
Colour key for Booth's poverty map .