The Wilds of London (Illustrated‪)‬

The prefatory remarks to the present volume need be but few. It is
not claimed for it that in the strict sense of the term it is new. The
material of which it is mainly composed has already seen service in
the “serried columns” of certain daily newspapers, but, with all
respect for the reader’s superior judgment, I would submit that it is
not worn-out material, and that remade-up in the handier form of
book shape, it may, perhaps, “ serve a turn, both as regards
entertainment and usefulness. As one whose delight it is to do his
humble endeavour towards exposing and extirpating social abuses,
and those hole-and-corner evils which afflict society, I cannot but be
painfully aware of the many chances of success which are lost to the
newspaper correspondent through his inability to hold public
attention sufficiently long to any particular subject to secure for it
that amount of consideration which it may deserve.