[GEORGE PEABODY] SOMERBY, H.G. (Horatio Gates)

Mr. Peabody's Gift to the Poor of London. Statement of the Trustees

London: [Spottiswoode & Co.], 1865. First Edition. Sewn pamphlet, 24cm x 15cm. Original printed card wrappers; tinted lithographic frontispiece and title page; 15pp. Moderate external wear and soil; old damp-mark to upper margin of first four and final two leaves, affecting also the frontispiece and title page; still a complete, sound, Good copy.

First report of the Trustees of the £150,000 philanthropic fund of American financier George Peabody to the City of London. The Peabody Fund (still extant) was established with the specific intent of providing housing for the city's poor and indigent, and by the time of this report the first two of the trust's many housing projects had been completed - Peabody Square in Islington and the Peabody Buildings in Spitalfields. The former is pictured in the lithographic frontispiece to the current volume; the latter is depicted in a title-page vignette. The text is signed in print, following text, by Horatio Gates Somerby, Secretary of the Board of Trustees. Somewhat uncommon, and a key document in the history of British social housing. SABIN 86791.

Price: $200.00

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