Editing Costermonger (section)

==Social commentary and sources==

The activities and lifestyles of 19th-century costermongers and street vendors are among the subjects documented in various 19th-century texts. Many of these were written by prominent social commentators and journalists, as part of a social reform agenda which emerged during the period.<ref>Jordan, R.E., ''Victorian Childhood: Themes and Variations'', State University of New York, 1987, p.248</ref> Notable commentators (with selected book titles) include:

* [[Henry Mayhew]] wrote ''[[London Labour and the London Poor]]'', a four volume collection of articles, being an observational account of street life and the working poor, published in 1851. Volume 1 is dedicated to costermongers and street vendors。Henry Mahew wrote extensively about the conditions of London's working classes and poor. During the mid-19th century, his output was prolific, publishing a series of 82 letters, surveying the conditions of the nation's labouring population in the Morning Chronicle in 1849-1850.;<ref>Eileen Yeo and E. P. Thompson, ‘’The Unknown Mayhew’’, Schocken, NY, 1971; Peter Razzell (ed), ''The Morning Chronicle Survey of Labour and the Poor'', Routledge, London, 1980</ref><ref>Anne Humphreys (ed), "Voices of the Poor: Selections from the Morning Chronicle, 'Labour and the Poor' (1849-1850) by Henry Mayhew", Frank L Cass, T NY, 1971, p. xiii</ref> and a series of pamphlets, entitled "The Great World of London", in 1856 <ref>{{Cite journal |last=Thompson |first=E. P. |date=1967 |title=The Political Education of Henry Mayhew |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3825892 |journal=Victorian Studies |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=41–62 |jstor=3825892 |issn=0042-5222}}</ref> made a number of public appearances in which he used humour, song and costume to bring his characters to the stage and in 1857 gave a series of public readings, promoted as "Oddities of the London Streets" <ref>Society of the Arts, "Proceedings and Institutions", ''Journal of the Society of the Arts'', 2 April 1858, p. 315</ref> His most well-known work is ''London Labour and the London Poor''
* Godfrey Holden Pike, a Methodist writer, published ''Byeways of Two Cities'', in 1873 and the ''Romance of the Streets'' in 1872<ref>Pike, G.H., ''Byeways of Two Cities'', London, Hodder and Stoughton, 1873</ref>
* [[James Greenwood (journalist)|James Greenwood]], a Victorian journalist and social commentator, first published an article 'A Mission Among City Savages', the ''Daily Telegraph'' and subsequently in a collection entitled, ''In Strange Company'' in 1873.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Greenwood |first=James [from old catalog |url=http://archive.org/details/instrangecompan00greegoog |title=In strange company: being the experiences of a roving correspondent |date=1883 |publisher=London, Vizetelly & co. |others=Oxford University}}</ref> His commentary relates especially to the street vendors working around Whitecross Street, London. He also wrote, ''Toilers in London'' in 1883 <ref>Greenwood, J., ''Toilers in London'', (1883), Dodo Press, 2009</ref>
* [[Charles Booth (social reformer)|Charles Booth]] wrote, ''[[Life and Labour of the People in London]]'' a multi-volume book published in 1891.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Booth |first=Charles |url=http://archive.org/details/lifeandlabourpe02bootgoog |title=Life and labour of the people in London |date=1903 |publisher=London, Macmillan and co., limited; New York, The Macmillan Co. |others=unknown library}}</ref> Volume 17 contains commentary on costermongers and their lifestyle.
* [[John Thomson (photographer)|John Thomson]] and Adolphe Smith, collaborated in the production of a monthly magazine, ''Street Life in London'', between 1876 and 1877. These were subsequently published as a pictorial essay in book form, also called ''Street Life in London'' in 1878.<ref>Jacobson, K., ''Odalisques and Arabesques: Orientalist Photography, 1839-1925'', London, Bernard Quaritch, 2007; argues that the work focused on educating the English middle class on the circumstances of the English working classes.</ref>