Oh, Boston! My Boston! Enhance your enjoyment and appreciation of this jewel in the crown of American cities with this selection of books about Boston from the British Library’s 19th Century Collection. These works, now available at the touch of a fingertip, will take you back to the Boston of yore, providing you with the experiences of Bostonians over three centuries. Founded in 1630, Boston is one of the oldest cities in the United States. Home today to over 4.5 million people, when Boston was chartered as a city in 1822, its population was only 46,000 and the whole of the city comprised a mere 4.7 square miles. Boston boasts many firsts: first public school, first subway, first post office, first UFO sighting, first public library, first lighthouse, first use of anesthesia, and first printing of an American Christmas card, to name a few. It was, of course, also home to many famous historical events, including the Boston Tea Party and the Battle of Bunker Hill. Today, Boston’s rich history and many cultural attractions make it a popular tourist destination. Highlights from this Boston-centric collection from the British Library include Report of a French Protestant Refugee in Boston in 1687, an engaging journal style narrative of life as a refugee in Boston. Full of fascinating detail of life at the time, the author describes how Native Americans were employed in finding runaway slaves and how labor for building houses was very dear—no one being willing to work for less than 24 cents a day. An Address to the Board of Alderman by Mayor Harrison Otis (given in 1831) gives a report of the city and celebrates the fact that only 18 prisoners, as opposed to as many as 1400, were in jail for debt (yes, people used to be sent to jail for being in debt—try imagining that now…) The King’s Dictionary of Boston is just that. Look up anything Boston and you will find a short history and description of it. It includes things like ‘Apartment-Houses, or Family Hotels,’ ‘The Boston Base Ball Club,’ and ‘Art Galleries.’ Curiosities of Boston is an amusing book in which the author is outraged by the publication (in London) of a “scandalous” book about Boston. In said book it is written that Boston “women, like the men, are excessive smokers…they smoke in bed, smoke as they knead their bread, smoke whilst they are cooking…” Things much more scandalous are heavily hinted at, but never spoken. If you live in Boston, love Boston, or are planning to visit Boston, this collection is for you. It provides a fast, easy, and highly entertaining way of comparing yesterday with today.
