Criminology
We offer free shipping
BERTILLON, Alphonse.
Identification Anthropometrique. Instructions Signalétiques. 1893
£3,950
First published in 1886, this edition represents Bertillon's final statement of the technique of Bertillonage or forensic anthropometry. This copy inscribed on the front free...
Octavo (247 × 161 mm). Contemporary blue quarter cloth on marbled boards, tan morocco label to the spine. Line-drawn frontispiece and 51 similar plates, 30... Read more
REISS, R[odolphe] A[rchibald]
La Photographie Judiciaire. [1903]
£1,500
First and only edition. Foundation text of the use of photography in forensic investigations. Uncommon, just 9 copies on OCLC, none apparently in the US. Reiss (1876-1929), received...
Large octavo. Resewn and recased in the original marl printed card wraps. 6 original photographic plates mounted on card, numerous illustrations to the text, many of... Read more
EINSTEIN, Izzy.
Prohibition Agent No.1. 1932
£1,000
First edition. Described on the jacket as "The startling and humorous disclosures of America's most famous prohibition agent." Time magazine's obituary of Einstein gives a sense of...
Octavo. Original plum cloth, title in yellow to the spine and upper board, blind panel to the upper board. With the pictorial dust jacket. Portrait frontispiece and 13... Read more
VIDOCQ, [François Eugène].
Memoires. 1828-9
£850
First editions and signed by the author in the first 3 volumes.
4 volumes, octavo (200mm x 125mm). Buckram-backed spines, marbled boards, endpapers and edges. Engraved frontispiece of the author to volume 1. Previous owner's... Read more
REISS, R[odolphe] A[rchibald]
Manuel de Police Scientifique (Technique). 1911
£750
First and only edition. The first, and the only published, volume of a projected, comprehensive, four-volume manual of scientific police practice by one of its unsung pioneers. The...
Octavo. Contemporary oatmeal half cloth on mid-blue boards, blue morocco label to spine, original wraps bound in. Profusely illustrated. Some light spotting, a... Read more
STEWART, William.
Jack the Ripper. A New Theory. 1939
£750
First edition, first impression.
Octavo. Original black cloth, titles to spine in red. Frontispiece and 12 plates, map within the text. Pencilled ownership inscription to front free endpaper. Spine... Read more
HERSCHEL, Sir William J.
The Origin of Finger-Printing. 1916
£650
First edition. This copy inscribed on the title page; "W.F. Courthope with many happy recollections of the Author, 16 Oct 1916." Courthope served in Ceylon as Captain in the Ceylon...
Octavo. Wire-stiched in the original printed light card wraps. 4 plates, illustrations to the text. Wraps a little sunned and soiled, short split to the upper panel,... Read more
BRUÈRE, Martha Bensley.
Does Prohibition Work? 1927
£475
First edition, first printing. Inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper "To Marian P. S. Kellogg with the deepest appreciation of her unselfish cooperation through all...
Octavo. Original pictorial boards, red top-stain. Folding map frontispiece. Wear to lower edges, chip to head of spine affecting title, front joint cracked, repaired... Read more
DEARDEN, R. L.
The Autobiography of a Crook. 1925
£450
First US edition, from the UK sheets with a cancel title, issued in the Dial's Rogue's Library series. Ghosted autobiography of the fraudster and conman Netley Lucas. Lucas was...
Octavo, original terracotta quarter cloth on patterned boards, title gilt to the spine, brown top-stain. In the dust jacket. Very light toning, else an excellent... Read more
HOFMANN, Dr. E[duard] von.
Atlas of Legal Medicine. 1898
£450
First edition of this translation issued in the well-received Saunders' Medical Hand-Atlases series, published the same year as the book's first appearance in German, Atlas der...
Octavo, original green cloth, title gilt to spine. 56 chromolithograph plates and 193 photographic illustrations on 87 sheets. Very slightly rubbed, mild stain to the... Read more
HODNETT, P.
Sea Tales from the Far East. [c.1890]
£425
First edition. An alternative title at the head of the first tale is "Captain Hodnett's Yarns of the Eastern Seas" which very much catches the flavour of this salty collection of...
Octavo [iv], 36pp. Original blue cloth, title gilt to upper board. This copy inscribed "Mr. H. F. Nevile with the Author's Compliments." Endpapers browned, light... Read more
LOWE, Louisa.
The Bastilles of England; the Lunacy Laws at Work. 1883
£395
First edition of "one of the most powerful accounts of wrongful confinement" of the Victorian period (Homberger, "Wrongful Confinement", bbc.ac.uk). Despite institutional reforms in...
Octavo. Original grey cloth, title gilt to spine and in black to the upper board, decorative frieze to both boards, grey on white floral sprigged endpapers A little... Read more
[THE STOLL KIDNAPPING]
Original Wanted Notice for Thomas H. Robinson on the Charge of Kidnapping. 1933
£375
In October 1934 this Nashville criminal abducted Alice Speed Stoll, granddaughter of a prominent Louisville businessman and philanthropist, from suburban Louisville and held her...
Singlesheet (200 × 200 mm) printed both sides on heavy paper/light card stock. Two mug-shots, full-face and right profile, full set of prints, and sample... Read more
[LOWNDES, Marie Belloc] CURTIN, Philip (pseud.)
Noted murder mysteries. 1914
£300
First edition, first impression. Belloc Lowndes, feminist, journalist, and sensational author - her most famous work The Lodger, based on the Jack the Ripper murders, has been filmed...
Octavo. Original red cloth, title gilt to spine and upper board, blind panelling to the upper board, publisher's device in blind to the lower, top edge gilt. With the... Read more
REISS, R[odolphe] A[rchibald]
Manuel du Portrait parlé 1905
£275
First edition, uncommon abridgement of the Bertillon system designed for easier handling and consultation by police officers and agents of the Justice Department. Only 9 copies...
Small octavo. Original pale grey cloth, rounded corners, title in white to upper board and spine. . 5 black and white plates from photographs, one coloured plates of... Read more
[WHITEHEAD, Charles.]
Lives and Exploits of the Most Noted Highwaymen, [ca. 1840]
£275
An attractive later edition of this volume compiling the stories of thirty-four notorious highwaymen and murderers. Originally published in 1836.
Octavo. Original brown cloth, titles and pictorial decoration to spine gilt, boards decoratively blocked in blind. Engraved vignette title and 8 plates. Spine rolled,... Read more
BLOND, Albert le, & Arthur Lucas.
Du Tatouage chez les Prostituées. 1899
£250
First edition. A medical and sociological work on the practice of tattooing among French prostitutes, with illustrations of the tattoos throughout. Scarce.
Octavo. Original yellow wrappers printed in black. Illustrations throughout. Wrappers rubbed, creased, and spotted, small chip from corner of upper wrapper, contents... Read more
PINKERTON, Allan.
The Expressman and The Detective. 1874
£225
First edition. First title issued in the series Pinkerton's Detective Stories; "The narration of some of the most interesting of these events, happening in connection with my...
Octavo. Original blue cloth, spine and upper board lettered and elaborately decorated in gilt and black, centred on the Pinkerton Agency logo of an eye captioned "We... Read more
WINSLOW, L. Forbes.
Recollections of Forty Years. 1910
£195
First edition, decidedly uncommon. The son of Forbes Benignus Winslow, expert on insanity and the law and operator of a number of private madhouses, Winslow took over the running of...
Octavo. Original plum cloth, title gilt to the spine and the upper board. Portrait frontispiece and numerous illustrations to the text. a little rubbed, corners... Read more
(PRISONS)
Standing orders to be followed in carrying out the Rules (made by the Secretary of State for the Home Department) for the Government of Local Prisons. 1899
£150
First edition of this comprehensive guide to the running of local prisons. Print run of 2025, but uncommon, no copies showing on COPAC, OCLC listing just 2 copies of the 1906 revised...
Octavo, contemporary dark blue buckram, title gilt to spine and upper board. Corrigenda slip mounted at p.437, a few pencilled marginalia in a contemporary hand.... Read more
(BERRY, James) ATHOLL, Justin.
The Reluctant Hangman. The Story of James Berry, Executioner 1884-1892. 1956
£150
First edition. Detailed biography of the first truly literate hangman, who had recorded his own experiences in an autobiography published in 1892. Berry carried out 131 hangings in...
Octavo. Original black cloth, title gilt to spine. With the dust jacket. Portrait frontispiece and 6 other plates. A little light chafing at the edges of the jacket,... Read more
ROUGHEAD, William.
In Queer Street. 1932
£95
First edition, first impression. Roughead writes fictionalized essays on a number of 18th century crimes celebres.
Octavo. Original brown cloth, titles to spine gilt. With the dust jacket. 8 illustrations. Crease to the upper board drip mark to the lower but a very good copy in the... Read more
SULLIVAN, W[illiam] C[harles].
Crime and Insanity. 1925
£95
First US edition, first published by Edward Arnold in the UK the previous year, both editions are far from common. The author was the Medical Superintendent of Broadmoor, and had...
Octavo. Original plum diapered cloth, title gilt to spine. Ex-Widener Law School library, shelf-mark removed from the tail of the spine, stamps to edges, and issue... Read more
RITCHIE, J. Ewing.
Days and Nights in London; or Studies in Black and Grey. 1880
£85
First edition, first impression.
Octavo. Original brown cloth, titles to spine gilt, ruling and floral design to upper board in black. Binding rubbed and a little marked, contents toned with... Read more
B.2.15
Among the Broad-Arrow Men. A Plain Account of English Prison Life. 1924
£85
First edition. Far from common account of prison life in the 20s. The broad arrow of the title, often seen on the clothing of prisoners in period illustrations, refers to the mark...
Octavo, original brown cloth lettered in black, title to upper board within single line panel. Line-drawn frontispiece, title-page vignette and 8 full-page... Read more
