The Dictionary of Nautical, University, Gypsy and Other Vulgar Tongues: A Guide to Language on the 18th and 19th Century Streets of London

This is not a book about history.  It IS history. 

First published in 1859, it is literally a snapshot of the language used by the 18th and 19th Century common man.  With it, you can enter into his world as he or she saw it, felt it and expressed it.  No novel, no history book can or will ever give you that perspective. 

Tell me: 
* If you knew someplace was a “knocking shop” would you go in? 
* Would an 18th Century seaman drink a couple of "scotches" or whistle at them? 
* Is “casting up your accounts” something a business person would do? 
* Would you resort to “chariot buzzing” to build-up your supply of “chinkers”? 
* Would you eat a “Sharp's-Alley” chicken? 

Some of the definitions are tragic and some are outrageously funny. But if you want to genuinely understand their world—if you want to understand the world portrayed in books by Jane Austin, C.S. Forester, Patrick O'Brian or Dudley Pope—you need this book by your side. 
This work is based on John Camden Hotten’s 1860 edition of A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words.