History of the London County Council 1889-1939 by Sir Gwilym Gibbon and Reginald W Bell.
 
This book has been written at the instance of the London County Council to commemorate its jubilee, but it is in no sense an official history. The authors alone are responsible for what it contains. In the main it is devoted to the narration of facts, but we have not hesitated to make comments, though naturally with less freedom than if the book had been a wholly private venture.
Every great public body, apart from its record of activities, has an indefinable " character", which is felt by the man in the street but often misinterpreted by him. The Council is no exception from this rule and it has been one of our aims to dislodge the mask of inscrutability which still screens from so many a true understanding of the Council and its work. Allowance is seldom made for the real difficulties which beset its path and for the peculiar setting in which its labours are carried on; and the early influences which shaped its career and so long left their impress on some aspects of its public policy are generally forgotten, if they have been at all known.