THE FIRST DETECTIVE. The Life and Revolutionary Times of Eugene-Francois Vidocq

Hardback. SIGNED. Set in revolutionary France and also spanning the Napoleonic Wars and the 1848 revolutions, this is a gripping account of one of history's most influential and entertaining rogues. Born in France in 1775, by his early twenties Vidocq was a notorious criminal and prison escaper. He then turned police officer and employed a gang of ex-convicts as his detectives. Vidocq's triumphs were many and he was the darling of Europe. He invented innovative criminal indexes and experimented with fingerprinting, establishing techniques that are still in practice today. Like the Scarlet Pimpernel he passed in disguise through the highest and lowest of society, until his cavalier attitude towards the thin blue line meant he was forced out of the police. So it was that Vidocq opened the very first private detective agency. The cases he solved were high profile, from forgery in Pimlico to stolen jewels in the South of France. However, his infamy didn't prevent him from becoming a spy and moving secretly across the dangerous borders of Europe. Novelists Balzac, Hugo and Dickens all created characters based on the notorious womanising, charming Vidocq. When he published his memoirs they were an overnight bestseller. An entertaining biography of a man whose influence holds to this day. With Bibliog. and Index. 340pp. 8vo. h/back. From the library of true-crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. Review copy with loosely inserted slip. F. in vg+ dw. With tipped-in label SIGNED BY JAMES MORTON.