Russell (C. & H. S. Lewis). The Jew in London..., 1900

Lot description

Russell (C. & H. S. Lewis). The Jew in London..., 1900 Russell (C. & H. S. Lewis). The Jew in London. A Study of Racial Character and Present-Day Condition. Being two Essays prepared for the Tonybee Trustees, 1st edition, published by T. Fisher Unwin, 1900, additional half title, contents, preface and introduction, colour printed folding map by George Arkell, some insect damage to the fore-edge of page xxxi, very slight spotting, sewing weakened before the map, rear hinge cracked, publisher's blue cloth gilt, boards and spine with insect damage, very slight wear to extremities, 8vo QTY: (1) NOTE: The first edition of the infamous Arkell map of the Jewish population in the East End of London. George Arkell had been the cartographer responsible for the production of Booth’s poverty maps of London, and Arkell used these as a basis for the current map, which at best is misleading and at worst deeply anti-semitic. Fleeing the resurgence of pogroms in Eastern Europe and Tsarist persecution in Russia, many Jews had fled to London in the second half of the 19th century. Britain had no restrictions on immigration, and estimates suggest that some 7000 Jews arrived in Britain per year between 1881 and 1900, by which time the Jewish population in the East End had risen to 135,000. The map shows the Jewish population in blue, but the overwhelming red graphic might give the casual viewer the impression that the East End was being dominated by the new arrivals. Even read correctly, the map can be construed as alarmist: the dark blue colour denotes an area with a Jewish concentration of 95-100%; Booth’s poverty maps used the same dark blue for areas demarcated ‘vicious, semi-criminal poverty.’ Arkell's map has been accused of fuelling the racism that led to the passing of the 1905 Aliens Act, aimed at reducing Jewish immigration and is infamous as a deliberately misleading piece of persuasive cartography