“The Ultimate Jack the Ripper Sourcebook; An Illustrated Encyclopedia”, by Stewart P Evans & Keith Skinner

 

Robinson Publishing, ISBN-13: 978-1841194523

There was a time, many years ago, when I was into everything Jack the Ripper (perhaps I speak for many?). I read damn near every book I could find on the subject and watched every TV special that came on about this still-unknown maniac. While I can’t remember all of the books I read, I remember this one, The Ultimate Jack the Ripper Sourcebook; An Illustrated Encyclopedia by Stewart P Evans & Keith Skinner (Illustrated Encyclopedia is a line of books). If you’re studying Jack the Ripper then this book has everything you need to launch your own investigation: newspaper articles, photographs and scads of information that other Jack The Ripper books just do not go in to, probably because of time constraints.

What all of this detail lacks are author speculations on who Jack the Ripper was, leaving that up to the reader for the ultimate decision. I have to say, however, that there are only so many times that you can read about a “special allowance” being paid for extra police before you come to the decision that it’s just to make the book look bigger; I must have read about a hundred or more Times correspondence about “special allowance”. I mean, c’mon, is there a need to keep including every one? But this is a sourcebook only, not a novel or history of Jack; something to be consulted if a question arises. And if so, then The Ultimate Jack the Ripper Sourcebook is the handiest source of information one could ask for on this shadowy madman.