The London Guide and Stranger's Safeguard, published in 1819 by J. Bumpus in London, was a guide to the cons and crimes that awaited newcomers to the city. Its author was described as a gentleman who had studied the metropolitan police for twenty-two years, and the material was collected from the accounts of a police source named William Perry and others. The book is organised into six chapters, covering street tricks, inn tricks, miscellaneous offences, housebreakers, minor cheats and conspirators and informers. Its sub-chapters have memorable names, including Smashing, Greeks and Legs, Private Stills, Bon Ton and Pretenders to Literature. It also includes a glossary of the slang used by criminals. The introduction explains that the author wrote it to replace a trusted friend for strangers arriving in the huge city who had no one to warn them about dangers.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.