2022

Caret Press and The Vauxhall Society are pleased to announce the publication of Six Essays on Vauxhall Gardens by David E. Coke, a leading expert on London’s Georgian pleasure gardens. The papers in this collection originated as studies published on The Vauxhall Society website VauxhallHistory.org.

David is co-author with Alan Borg of Vauxhall Gardens: A History (Yale UP, 2011) and a consulting editor on VauxhallHistory.org.

Ross Davies, Chairman of The Vauxhall Society, says:

“We’re delighted that David’s Six Essays on Vauxhall Gardens not only updates Vauxhall Gardens: A History but is to be the first in a Caret Press series of essay collections by modern historians.”

Naomi Clifford of Caret Press says:

“We are thrilled to be able to make David’s latest research available to the wider public. These illustrated essays, all based on new research, expand and explore subjects that were only touched on in Vauxhall Gardens: A History, or have come to light since publication of that standard work, and are essential reading for anyone interested in Georgian and early Victorian society and culture.”

The essay subjects include:

• The surprising career of C.H. Simpson, Master of Ceremonies.
• Vauxhall Gardens in contemporary children’s board games.
• Evanion – the ‘Royal Conjuror’, supplier of refreshments to Vauxhall, and obsessive collector of entertainment ephemera.
• Evidence of the popular nostalgia for Vauxhall after it closed.
• The record-breaking flight of the Royal Vauxhall Balloon in 1836.
• Tracking the fate of Vauxhall’s outdoor bandstand.

Six Essays is available from bookshops through Ingram Global Distribution, from Amazon, and as a Kindle ebook after 1 March 2022).

FOR MORE INFORMATION or to speak to the author please contact info@caretpress.com or phone Naomi Clifford on 07525 244337