From 1886 to 1903, social reformer Charles Booth conducted a landmark survey of the life and labour of London's poorest inhabitants, an endeavour that resulted in the staggering finding that 35 per cent of Londoners were living in abject poverty.

This shocking statistic was discovered by the meticulous work of Booth and his team, who walked every street, recording their findings in more than 450 notebooks. The stores behind these statistics have now been brought to life in a new publication, Charles Booth's London Poverty Maps, through the maps themselves, photography from the era and hundreds of commentaries by Victorian Londoners, from factory owners to trade unionists, ministers to prostitutes, providing incredible levels of detail on how they lived, worked and felt.

Charles Booth's London Poverty Maps is available now from Thames & Hudson, priced [pounds sterling]49.95 (hardback). Order online from: geog.gr/boothmap

* Child Shoeblack. 1877. Independent shoeblacks were required to obtain a five shilling yearly licence (Thomson. J. and Smith,...