London in Fragments: A Mudlark's Treasures torrent

London in Fragments: A Mudlark's Treasures - Ted Sandling [epub]

Mudlarking, searching the Thames foreshore, has a long tradition: mudlarks used to be small boys grubbing a living from scrap. Today's mudlarks unearth relics of the past, from Roman tiles to elegant Georgian pottery.

Here are Edward Sandling's most evocative finds, gorgeously photographed. Together they create a mosaic of everyday London life through the centuries. There are two themes behind the account: celebrating the beauty of small things, and making sense of the intangible connection that found objects give us to the individuals who lost them.

An evocative and detailed text will place the fragments in the objects they came from, and place the objects in the flow of London's history. The book concludes with advice on how to start mudlarking.

'Exhilaratingly curious and entertainingly knowledgeable, Sandling is especially good at following the fractals of his eclectic finds...each object beautifully photographed… He is a fine observer, too, of the potent flawed beauty of his hoard of rescued treasure… With handsome photography, an introduction by Iain Sinclair and a chapter of excellent practical advice for would-be mudlarkers, this book is an indispensable vade-mecum for anyone who has ever been tempted to explore the secrets that lie hidden in plain sight on the shores of London’s great river.' - Jane Shilling, Evening Standard

‘I found a distinct frisson running through me as I read this book… [Mudlarking] is free to anyone, although many readers, I suspect, will be happy that Ted Sandling has done it for them... Each [find] has been indefatigably researched… The surviving words on a tiny, 19th-century type block found at Vauxhall read like poetry: "GOLD Handsome… graved, and… Pearls and fine… lustrous Gems." They could stand as a motto to the book. To the mudlark, every Waldorf Hotel teacup or lead-glazed pipkin handle is a jewel.’ - Clive Aslet, Country Life