RICHMOND: SCENES IN THE LIFE OF A BOW STREET RUNNER The first collection of detective stories (1827) in English

Softcover. Reprint. This Dover Edn. is an unabridged republication of the work originally published in three volumes by Henry Colburn in 1827. A new Introduction has been written especially for this edition by E.F. Bleiler. Back in the days of Gin Lane, London, before the development of the Metropolitan Police, detective work was accomplished by a very unusual group of men: the Bow Street Runners. Domiciled at the Bow Street Court, from the middle of the 18th century up to 1839, the Runners solved murders, burglaries, highway robberies, espionage cases, swindles, bank robberies and the other crimes that beset premodern England. In their day the Bow Street Runners were the ultimate in criminal investigation not only in London, but throughout Great Britain. They solved countless cases, and though few in number, upheld an enormous reputation. Today we recognise them as a fascinating group of virtuosi detectives working in a very colourful period of history, using somewhat free and easy methods of solving crimes. Only one work of fiction written during the heyday of the Runners, however, chronicles their exploits. This is the present 'Richmond', which was published anonymously in London in 1827. A collection of 5 fictional cases solved by the Runner Richmond, it really constitutes the first collection of stories about a detective, many years before Poe's work. In it Richmond, a daring and resourceful investigator with a somewhat shady past, unravels a series of crimes. His adventures are ingenious and entertaining, among kidnappers, murderers, grand swindlers, loose women, thugs, cheats, resurrection men and other scoundrels and scallawags of the underworld of the 1820s. 266pp. 8vo. softcover. With creased covers and signs of shelfwear. G+