Looking for a last minute Christmas gift. We thought we’d help out with a list of some of our favorite books released this year…

• Philip Davies’ Panoramas of Lost London: Work, Wealth, Poverty and Change 1870-1945; is a beautiful and moving photographic tour through London that was;

• February next year sees the bicentennary of the birth of Charles Dickens, so why not take a look at Claire Tomalin’s at times controversial biography Charles Dickens: A Life;

• Lucy Worlsey’s, Courtiers: The Secret History of the Georgian Court, includes the fascinating story of Peter the Wild Boy;

• David Brandon and Alan Brooke take an in-depth look south of the Thames in Bankside: London’s Original District of Sin;

• And on a similar theme (better brace yourself for this one) is Catharine Arnold’s look at the seedy side of London – City of Sin: London and Its Vices;

• Nicholas Kenyon edits this comprehensive survey of architecture – The City of London: Architectural Tradition & Innovation in the Square Mile; 

• Paul Talling digs under the city’s skin in London’s Lost Rivers;

• Amid the ever-growing number of walking guides to London come Stephen Millar’s, London’s Hidden Walks, Volume 1; and, Andrew Duncan’s Walking Village London: Original Walks Through London’s Villages;

• While, for a quirky look at the city, why not try Ianthe Ruthven’s A Spotters Guide to Animal London?

These are, of course, just some of the many wonderful books released this year…Let us know of any you think people should add to their Christmas shopping lists…