VIDOCQ. Jean-François RABAN et Emile Marco SA... Lot n° 33

[VIDOCQ]. [Jean-François RABAN and Emile Marco SAINT- HILAIRE]. Mémoires d'un forçat ou Vidocq dévoilé. Paris, 1828-1829. 4 volumes in-8, (2) ff, XVIII pp, (1) blank, 351 pp; 8 pp, 357 pp; XI pp, 343 pp; (2) ff, 343 pp. Binding: half green chevrette with small corners, smooth spines decorated with gilt fillets, gilt fillet framing the boards, yellow edges (period binding). First edition. An important Glossary of slang appears on pages 307 to 338 of Volume IV. Eugène François Vidocq (1775-1857), an escapee from the penal colony, was placed at the head of a special brigade recruited from among his more or less repentant fellow convicts under the Empire. Nicknamed the "Napoleon of the police", he was officially appointed head of the Sûreté in 1832. He was the model for Jean Valjean and Vautrin. His Mémoires were published the same year as his Mémoires d'un forçat. A handsome collection in a contemporary binding typical of those produced for Prince Dietrichstein (1775-1864). Some foxing. Paper browned in places. (Yve-Plessis, Bibliographie raisonnée de l'argot, no. 119.)