VIDOCQ : A Master of Crime.

Hardback. This life of the great French detective, Vidoqc, is based mainly on his own memoirs published in 4 volumes in 1829. He had originally commissioned a 'literary man' to write his memoirs, but found his early years 'had been painted in so unfavourable a light, that he took up the task himself,' and he tells us that from the time he joined a French privateer, the unvarnished story is his own. His descriptions of prison conditions and the life of the French countryside during the French Revolution and the Napoleonic era are not only fascinatingly interesting but give an unrivalled authentic picture of the time. In two parts. Part I: Early Days; Part II: Detective. With Frontis. 319pp. 8vo. h/back. Fr. cover marked, (see image), sunned sp. Nr. Vg.