The Recollections Of A Policeman By Thomas Waters, An Inspector Of The London Detective Corps.

THOMAS WATERS

Publication: Wentworth and Company, 1857, Boston

First U. S. edition thus. Although this is the first authorized American edition, the true first American edition was first issued as a pirated edition by Cornish, Lamport & Co. in 1852, with the text lifted from CHAMBER'S EDINBURGH JOURNAL and "some of our American Magazines." The first U. K. edition was published in 1856 as RECOLLECTIONS OF A DETECTIVE POLICE-OFFICER. Thomas Waters was the pseudonym of William Russell. Thick 8vo. Original green cloth, decorated in blind on front and rear covers, titles stamped in gold gilt on the spine, 376 pp. plus 4 pages of advertising, preface. Queen 's Quorum 2 says this book is "the most important criminological yellow-back of its time." The first collection of British Detective stories and preceded only by Edgar Allan Poe's TALES in 1845, according to Queen's Quorum. Cloth worn at spine ends, corners and extremities, cloth is moderately rubbed, an old water stain to top edge of some of the pages in the rear, else a good copy of a rare book.

Inventory Number: 32087