THE EXPERIENCES OF A FRENCH DETECTIVE OFFICER
First edition of this classic Victorian detective novel, ostensibly written in the form of a memoir by an expat detective who fled his home country to avoid political persecution.
Very good plus.
Price: $2,000.00
THE EXPERIENCES OF A FRENCH DETECTIVE OFFICER
"The writ of Habeas Corpus is unknown in France."
After his RECOLLECTIONS OF A DETECTIVE POLICE-OFFICER (1856), the first novel of its kind to feature an investigator from Scotland Yard, Russell followed-up with this first-person series of eight short stories featuring Detective Duhamel, "who escaped his native France to avoid imprisonment for political reasons" (Dever 234).
Detective fiction has always pressed up against the porous borders of that much-derided segment of popular literature now known as "true crime": just as the latter is frequently embellished and distorted for the sake of a better story, crime and detective fiction in its earliest forms borrowed the shock of the real, insisting as a matter of genre convention that the events depicted were only lightly fictionalized, that the reader was given entrée into the "marginalized social space between 'respectable' and 'criminal'" (Saunders) occupied by the real-life police detective; that they were being told a true story by an insider. Verisimilitude was the point: "The genre was designed to take the private spaces, operations and methodologies of the police force, and publicize them for the reader, and Russell himself explained that his memoir writing was designed to present an inside view into policing for readers" (Saunders).
To this end, Russell / Duhamel begin the book with an "essay," "The Difference Between English and French Detectives," writing: "It is true they are alike agents of the public force, and that their common mission is to frustrate or detect offenses against the person and against property. But there the resemblance ends [...] Yes, multifarious, all-embracing are the duties of the French Secret Police." Rare; OCLC locates just eight copies.
Read more: Glover & Greene, Victorian Detective Fiction, 450 ; Dever, "An Occult and Immoral Tyranny," in The Literary Channel: The Inter-National Invention of the Novel.
The Object
London: Charles H. Clarke, [1861]. Full title: The Experiences of a French Detective Officer, Adapted from the Mss. of Theodore Duhamel. 6.25'' x 4''. Original full purple textured cloth with gilt spine titles. [2], 13-317, [1, publisher's ad] pages (complete). Spine sunned with faint perished label shadow. Minor shelfwear. Overall clean and sound.
The Fine Print
We work hard to meet our ethical responsibility to describe our material accurately. All items are guaranteed as described and may be returned for any reason within 30 days. Please notify us before mailing a return.
We guarantee the authenticity of our items. All materials are original (meaning not facsimiles or reproductions) unless otherwise noted. First editions (meaning first edition, first printing) are explicitly stated. TPM is a member of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America and upholds their Code of Ethics.
All photographs are of the actual item for sale. We're happy to provide additional images on request.
All domestic orders ship gratis. For orders under $250, free USPS media mail shipping is included; orders $250 and over ship USPS Ground Advantage. International orders over $1000 also ship gratis. Expedited, overnight, as well as other carriers (UPS, Fed-Ex, etc.), may carry additional costs beyond quoted rates. All orders receive tracking information and a direct contact in case of any questions.
International buyers are responsible for any customs, taxes, and related import fees. Please note that we are unable to accomodate requests to misrepresent, misdeclare, or otherwise falsify customs documents when shipping internationally. We appreciate your understanding.
We accept all major credit cards, Paypal, Venmo, check, money order, and bank wire. We are happy to bill institutional buyers' needs. Sales tax will be added to applicable purchases. Items subject to prior sale.
If for any reason you are dissatisfied with your purchase, please contact us. We prioritize our long-term relationships far above any individual purchase, and we want you to love your item as much as we loved cataloguing it.
