Octavo (ca. 19,5x12 cm). 1 pp. A stationary sheet with a printed letterhead “Tuesday, February 1838”. Text written in brown ink in a legible hand. Minor tears on the extremities, repaired with archival tape on verso, overall a very good document.

A page from a diary of apparently a British resident in Paris, with the latest news on the famous Vidocq – an ex-criminal, the first private detective, the founder of the modern French police and an inspiration for a number of the 19th century detective novels. The text reads “Vidoeq has been some months in Prison. <…> When taken into custody his Papers were seized and examined. They led to the discovery of Clerks in the Home department who corresponded with or assisted him. Those persons also were arrested, but there were also other Clerks and Employes [sic!] in another important department - the Ministry of War equally detected. They too were arrested and their papers seized,” the discoveries revealed that they had communicated “to a Russian Agent documents and information of much importance”.

Eugène François Vidocq was a French criminal and criminalist whose life story inspired several writers, including Victor Hugo and Honoré de Balzac. The former criminal became the founder and first director of the crime-detection Sûreté Nationale as well as the head of the first known private detective agency, Vidocq is considered to be the father of modern criminology and of the French police department. He is also regarded as the first private detective.

In 1833, Vidocq founded Le bureau des renseignements ("Office of Information"), a company that was a mixture of detective agency and private police. It is considered to be the first known detective agency. Once again, he predominantly hired ex-convicts. <…> From 1837, Vidocq quarreled constantly with the official police because of his activities and his questionable relations with various government agencies such as the War Department. On 28 November 1837, the police executed a search and seizure and confiscated over 3,500 files and documents. A few days later, Vidocq was arrested and spent Christmas and New Year in jail. He was charged with three crimes, namely the acquisition of money by deception, corruption of civil servants, and the pretension of public functions]. In February 1838, after numerous witnesses had testified, the judge dismissed all three charges. Vidocq was free again” (Wikipedia).