The Gentle Author's London Album is the wonderful new book, designed by David Pearson, written by the author of the fantastic Spitalfields Life blog. Alistair just picked up his copy from the author, suitably enough right in the middle of Spitalfields Market. The book has been published by the author's own imprint, Spitalfields Life Books, and financed by the readers of the blog.

If you don't read Spitalfields Life, you should. It's a beautifully written treasure trove of stories documenting London's history, all based around a small patch of east London. It has been written by the anonymous Gentle Author since 2009, who made the bold promise of writing every day until 10,000 posts have been written (sometime in 2037).

As with the blog, the book is a sumptuous pictorial record, a dense feast which includes myriad morsels from London's past and present, and features over six hundred pictures, many of them taken from glass slides from the archive at the Bishopsgate Institute, which have never been printed anywhere before.

The book also features the atmospheric London Underground photographs by Bob Mazzer which have been all over the internet recently (after featuring on Spitalfields Life of course).

You'll also find the wonderful typographic designs of Roy Gardner, market sundriesman:

Here's a rather marvellous little film celebrating the launch of the book:

There's also a rather fine slideshow that the BBC have put together about the book.

It's an absolute labour of love from both author and designer - we share a studio with David, and have witnessed first-hand the painstaking care and attention lavished upon the book.

Buy a copy directly from the Gentle Author, inscribed and signed if that takes your fancy (and really, why wouldn't it?).

Go on, off you go. Buy one right now.