Beck & Ball’s The London Friends’ Meetings

Peter Daniels talks about reproducing a facsimile edition of this 1869 book

by Peter Daniels 17th December 2009

From my time on the staff of Friends House Library, I knew William Beck and T Frederick Ball’s 1869 The London Friends’ Meetings as ‘Beck & Ball’, the book to show historians the lie of the land before they explore volumes of minutes and other detailed evidence. Olive Yarrow from Bunhill Fields Meeting lent me her copy while I was working on an article about Stoke Newington Quakers. I realised that with Olive’s permission I could produce a facsimile reprint, with a new introduction, some illustrations, and a decent index. Simon Dixon had researched his PhD on London Quakers in the Library while I still worked there, and was the obvious person to help me with the introduction.