Piccadilly: In Three Centuries

Piccadilly is a meticulously researched history of this important area of central London, from 1612, when Robert Baker, a tailor, erected the first buildings on what is now known as Piccadilly, to the end of the nineteenth century. Arthur Irwin Dasent charts the arrival of the aristocracy in the later seventeenth century, which led to it being regarded as a very fashionable area from the eighteenth century onwards, the burgeoning of the gentlemen’s clubs for which the vicinity remains famous, and the lives and intrigues of some of its better-known residents. Full of fascinating anecdotes about both the buildings and the people who lived in them, Piccadilly will appeal to anyone interested in the history of the great city of London.