Vidocq, Eugène François | "A work that exposes all the ruses of rogues, destined to become the vade mecum of honest folk"

Vidocq, Eugène François

Les Voleurs, physiologie de leurs moeurs et de leur language … Paris: Chez l'Auteur, 1837

2 volumes in one, 8vo (210 x 140 mm). Half-title in vol. 1 only, separate pagination and register; lacks lithograph portrait by Devéria, light occasional foxing in vol. 1, text browning to vol. 2, pp. 211–224. Rebound in green boards, green cloth spine, black lettering-piece.

Second edition, containing an ample dictionary of argot. Vidocq was a French criminal turned criminalist, whose life story inspired several writers, including Victor Hugo, Edgar Allan Poe and Honoré de Balzac. The former criminal became the founder and first director of the crime-detection Sûreté nationale as well as the head of the first known private detective agency. Vidocq is considered to be the father of modern criminology and of the French police department. He is also regarded as the first private detective.

REFERENCE:

Yve-Plessis, Bibliographie raisonnée de l'argot et de la langue verte, 133