Bound volume of The Recollections of a Policeman (1852) and The Romance of the Forum, or, Narratives, Scenes and Anecdotes from Courts of Justice (1853)
New York: Cornish, Lamport & Co., 1852-1853. First Printing. Hardcover. 8vo, half black leather and marbled boards, very good, light wear and rubbing, pencil signature of Isaac Craig (son of a prominent Pittsburgh citizen of the late 19th/early 20th century). "Recollections of a Policeman" is the true first edition of this incredibly early and important work of detective fiction (Queens Quorum no. 2); It is bound with Burke's "Romance of the Forum," issued by the same publisher, which makes us think that it was the publisher itself that, having some spare unbound copies of the first book, decided to issue it in tandem with Burke's book, which saved them the cost of binding them separately. That's our theory, anyway. Burke's book is actually non-fiction, however. Burke was born in London on 7 May 1811, and educated at the college of Caen in Normandy. Having been called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1839, he joined the northern circuit and the Manchester and Lancashire sessions. He afterwards practised at the parliamentary bar, and appeared before the House of Lords in several important peerage cases. He was made a queen's counsel of the county palatine of Lancaster in 1858 and a serjeant-at-law in 1859. He was elected director or chief honorary officer of the Society of Antiquaries of Normandy for 1866-7. His death occurred at his residence in South Kensington on 26 March 1881. He was related to Edmund Burke, wrote a biography of him and edited some reprints of Burke's works. But it is William Russell who really made a mark: he is considered one of the first and most prolific authors of detective stories known as "case fiction," which were purportedly police memoirs. The stories in "Recollections of a Policeman" first appeared in Chambers' Edinburgh Journal around 1850 and Cornish, Lamport & Co. collected ten of those stories and published this unauthorized version of them, well before any non-pirated editions appeared. Very good. Item #H27270
Price: $400.00