Memoires de Vidocq, chef de la police de Sureté jusqu’en 1827, aujourd’hui proprietaire et fabricant de papiers a Saint-Mande, 4 volumes. Paris, Tenon, 1828-1829.

Very good copy of the first edition of this famous book by Eugene Francois Vidocq (1775-1857), a French criminal and criminalist whose lifestory inspired writers as Victor Hugo and Balzac. He was the founder and first director of the Surete Nationale and he started the first known private detective agency, therefore he is considered the 'father' of modern criminology and of the French police. He is also regarded as the first private detective. In his youth he frequented several prisons.