Details: 2 vols.: iv, [2], 492; 432, 192 p. 25 cm. 28 illustrations in book I and 33 in book II. 15 maps and numerous tables. Blue cloth hardcovers. Some wear, especially to corners. Vol. I has remains of label at spine tail. Binding detached from text block in vol. II. Chip from bottom corner of vol. I p. 75. Small tears at top of vol. II pp. 289, 379-382 when cut. Title continues: "A Cyclopaedia of the Condition and Earnings of Those That Will Work, Those That Cannot Work, and Those That Will Not Work." Set consists of volumes I and II and the first 192 pages of vol. III which have been bound at the end of vol. II. Mayhew's social research is a very serious work of Victorian journalism. The author observed, documented, and described the state of the working people in London for a series of articles in a newspaper, the Morning Chronicle. The books make fascinating reading today, showing how precarious many people's lives were, despite living in one of the richest cities in the world.