With Victorian Vista, published in 1954, Mr. Laver made a distinctive contribution to social history. 'In this fascinating, delightfully illustrated and subtly compiled anthology'—as Mr. Cyril Connolly described it in the Sunday Times—he brought the Victorian era to life by an ingenious and imaginative combination of contemporary writings, paintings, prints and photographs.

In this companion volume Mr. Lavber has employed the same technique upon the 'age of extravagance,' that fabulously comfortable and self-confident era of which one gets glimpses in so many family albums—or in the scenes of My Fair Lady. Here, in ingeniously interwoven reminiscences, extracts from contemporary magazines, and verses from popular songs, is a most vivid impression of the age of Edward the Peacemaker, the Gaiety Girl and the Empire Promenade, the veteran car and the early acronauts, the Suffragette and the pioneer Socialist, the wasp waist and the flared skirt.

It is a dream world to which Mr. Laver introduces us, but though he brilliantly recreates in word and picture the golden age of Romano's and the country house party, of Clowes and the continental casino, he shows clearly and poignantly how society awoke to the reality of Flanders fields.