The London Encyclopaedia, first published in 1983 and revised in 1993, 1995 and 2008, is a 1101 page historical reference work on the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

's capital city, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, with some 5,000 articles supported by two indices - one general and one listing people, each of about 10,000 entries. The first edition of the encyclopaedia was complied over a fourteen year period by Ben Weinreb and latterly by Christopher Hibbert

Christopher Hibbert

Christopher Hibbert, MC, FRSL, FRGS was an English writer, historian and biographer. He has been called "a pearl of biographers" and "probably the most widely-read popular historian of our time and undoubtedly one of the most prolific"...

, and published by Macmillan.

The encyclopaedia covers the Greater London

Greater London

Greater London is the top-level administrative division of England covering London. It was created in 1965 and spans the City of London, including Middle Temple and Inner Temple, and the 32 London boroughs. This territory is coterminate with the London Government Office Region and the London...

 area. It builds on a number of antecedent publications, including:

• Survey of London - John Stow
  John Stow
  John Stow was an English historian and antiquarian.-Early life:The son of Thomas Stow, a tallow-chandler, he was born about 1525 in London, in the parish of St Michael, Cornhill. His father's whole rent for his house and garden was only 6s. 6d. a year, and Stow in his youth fetched milk every...
  
  , 1598
• The Survey of London - a multi-volume publication originated in 1894 by Charles Robert Ashbee
  Charles Robert Ashbee
  Charles Robert Ashbee was an English designer and entrepreneur who was a prime mover of the Arts and Crafts movement that took its craft ethic from the works of John Ruskin and its co-operative structure from the socialism of William Morris.-Early life:He was the son of businessman and erotic...
  
  , adopted first by the London County Council
  London County Council
  London County Council was the principal local government body for the County of London, throughout its 1889–1965 existence, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today known as Inner London and was replaced by the Greater London Council...
  
  , then the Greater London Council
  Greater London Council
  The Greater London Council was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council which had covered a much smaller area...
  
  , and now domiciled with English Heritage
  English Heritage
  English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
  
  .
• Handbook for London - Cunningham 1849
• London Past & Present - Wheatley and Cunningham, 1891

A plaudit from the Illustrated London News

Illustrated London News

The Illustrated London News was the world's first illustrated weekly newspaper; the first issue appeared on Saturday 14 May 1842. It was published weekly until 1971 and then increasingly less frequently until publication ceased in 2003.-History:...

printed on the back cover claims that "there is no one-volume book in print that carries so much valuable information on London and its history".

Another from "London Cabbie News" reads 'If I had my way this book would be in every cab in London'.

External links

• The Survey of London at English Heritage