London 200: An Illustrated History

Albert Stray is Head of Mobile Library Services at the London Public
Library.

London 200 is an update of Miller’s out-of-print This Was London
(1988), which the author described as an anecdotal history of the people
and events that have been part of London’s history since March 2,
1793. To the original work, Phelps and his assistants have added new
unpublished photographs, which, together with the original illustrations
and photos, prove that a picture can be worth a thousand words. (It is
fitting that Chapter 14, “Celebration and Challenge,” contains a
full-page photograph of the late artist Greg Curnoe, whom Douglas
Fertherling has called “not simply London’s most famous artist but
one of its most famous citizens.”) Most pages in this book have been
“counterpointed with events in the outside world,” both nationally
and internationally, to put what was happening in London, Ontario, into
perspective. Finally, in recognition of the support various London
companies and institutions gave to this book project, 44 corporate
profiles have been included; in them you will find nuggets of local
history.