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Eugène François Vidocq

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Memoirs of Vidocq: Master of Crime (NABAT) Paperback – May 1, 2003

by Francois Eugene Vidocq (Author), Edwin Gile (Translator)

4.6 17 ratings

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Criminal exploits, secret agent intrigue, and clever -disguises fill the pages of Francois Eugene Vidocq’s memoirs. A legendary figure in history, Vidocq is known as the first detective and an inspiration to great writers such as Honore de Balzac, Victor Hugo and Edgar Allen Poe. As a player in the criminal underworld, Vidocq is a master of disguises and an accomplished thief, eventually turning his unlawful talents toward catching criminals as the first French chief of secret police. Playing both sides of the law, Vidocq’s life highlights the blurry line between law enforcement and the criminals they pursue. Vidocq has a knack for finding trouble throughout his topsy-turvy life, getting into one hot situation after another, often finding himself behind bars, only to escape the first chance he gets. This book will take you on a whirlwind tour of 1830s France, including the circus stage, pirate ships, prison cells and beautiful women’s boudoirs. Vidocq’s life story is unforgettable and includes some of the best crime stories and juicy tales ever written. Last year, Gerard Depardieu starred in the French film adaptation of the memoirs, -titled Vidocq.

"He preferred the tumultuous life of danger to the contentment of security. His story is one long swashbuckling adventure as he breaks out of jails, pursues actresses, duels to the death, raids the hells of criminals and stalks the Paris night in a thousand disguises."—Philip John Stead, Vidocq, Picaroon of Crime

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"He preferred the tumultuous life of danger to the contentment of security. His story is one long swash-buckling adventure as he breaks out of jails, pursues actresses, duels to the death, raids the hells of criminals and stalks the Paris night in a thousand disguises."

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ AK Press; First Edition (May 1, 2003)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 433 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1902593715
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1902593715
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.2 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.8 x 8.9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,135,018 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,098 in Law Enforcement Biographies
- #1,913 in European Politics Books
- #3,521 in Crime & Criminal Biographies

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4.6 17 ratings

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Great Read, I Highly Recommend It!
Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2014
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Great storytelling and gripping read!
It somehow functioned as an inspirational work, and showed the versatility of human morals. Highly recommended!

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Michael
Mostly of academic interest, seriously needs new translation
Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2010
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As someone has pointed out, this book is more of anthropological/criminological/historical interest than a true story of Vidocq's life. Readers wishing to know more about the man himself should rather read one of the biographies on him. This 1935 translation really leaves a lot to be desired, one cannot translate 18th century French idiomatic expressions literally and expect them to be understandable to 21st century English readers, and so dozens of sentences cannot be understood correctly. In a way this is part of the charm of the book, as one is unexpectedly confronted with unusual but authentic expressions from so long ago.

Frankly though, Vidocq comes across as a far warmer character in his days of crime. When he turns into a snitch (police secret agent he calls it), he doesn't let any human feelings get in the way of his job. Tricking people into carrying out crimes with his help, then taking part in their arrest, today he would quite correctly be accused of entrapment by many law enforcement agencies. And remember that this was that chaotic period of social unrest between the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon when French society had disintegrated, punishments were severe, and forgers and repeat burglars, amongst many others, could be guillotined. His calmness at tricking men into giving themselves away, his insistence that they were actually grateful for ending their lives of crime, and his attendance at their executions, when they supposedly expressed their gratitude once more, left me with mixed feelings. In another anecdote, he got a wily female thief to fall in love with him, then pretended to fall seriously ill so that she would be forced to rob again to steal money for medicine for him. Of course, his agents were waiting for her and she ended up getting 7 years 'in the hulks at Brest', an unexplained but ominous term (prison ships?) which crops up repeatedly in the book. These stories are often related as examples of his genius or cleverness, but ones like this do no favours for his image as far as humanity goes. Describing his days of crime, when he often relates how lucky he is to evade capture, and later his detective days, when he mentions his luck at finding criminals, he seems to see no paradox in what he regards as being 'lucky'.

The book seems partly a defence against a number of criminal charges against him alleging that he illegally enriched himself during his time in authority, regularly receiving bribes and goods from burglaries, but the fact that, according to the foreword of the book, he left the police force an extremely rich man after joining it penniless, would seem to indicate that most of them were in fact true. Worth reading for an interesting insight into an obscure part of history that is often overshadowed by the French Revolution, it can however only be recommended to readers over 21 who can penetrate a book which at times is not easy reading.

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22 people found this helpful

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Christopher Mounce
The first internationally recognized detective
Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2007
True story of a thief and career criminal he became head of Paris's secret police. Insiration for Arthur Conan Doyle and Edgar Alan Poe's detective stories. A master of disguise, acrobat, and keen investigator who also used lies, extortion, and bribes to always get his man.

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4 people found this helpful

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Daniel J. Mooney
A Fascinating Memoir
Reviewed in the United States on December 17, 2019
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An abridged version of the original written in French in 1832, it is actually the first of four novels by the author. The others being Thieves: A Physiology of their Customs and Habits; The True Mysteries of Paris; and The Rural Bandits of the North.

Seemingly forgotten, the name of Vidocq carried great weight in post-revolutionary France and England. In a sense, he was the original police detective and inspired the entire genre of fiction. Hugo, who was aquainted with them man, took him as inspiration for both Jan Valjean and Inspector Javert in Les Misérables, the first character being on Vidocq the criminal, and the later when he switched teams. Balzac’s Valtean is openly based on the man, as is Gaboriau’s Lecoq. Charles Dickens consulted with him when writing Great Expectations. Edgar Allen Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle were both influenced by the memoirs when creating their famous detectives and the man is mentioned by name in Moby Dick.
He refers to himself as the Master of Crime, I assume due to his ability to root out criminals, as his career as a felon seems to mostly consist of womanizing, petty thievery, drunken brawls, desertion of duty, and escapes from prison- rather than big scores. And while he did break out of a number of prisons, he kept getting caught.
The book doesn’t get interesting until halfway through when he begins his vocation as a professional snitch (or police spy, as he calls it). Already familiar with French criminal underworld and its argot, he launched into his he job with a hungry appetite. Soon he became too well known to operate effectively, so he began to master the art of disguise and affecting different accents. This lead him to eventually be inducted into the police as an inspector and then be given his own semi-autonomous squad. There he help to pioneer or champion various techniques to cut down on counterfeiting (a large problem at the time), crime scene investigations, and rudimentary ballistic testing.

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Travis Pelt
Okay, so it's not exactly masterful writing
Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2010
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I read this book as more of an anthropological study. The story is great - a self-admitted swindler and ne'er do well turns around and not only becomes a detective, but sets the standard for how detectives work and operate. One of the problems with the book is also one of the most amusing - Vidocq isn't the most reliable narrator so you can never depend on him to tell the actual truth. Even when you feel like he's narrating the events accurately, you get the feeling he's not being exactly truthful with his motivations. The book is dated, unquestionably. However, it's still a fun read, the more so because it is - at least basically - true. I'd recommend it for anyone 16 and older, any younger and the archaic writing style may put the reader to sleep.

About the NABAT version of the book: It's hard to find a good printing of this book, so thanks for publishing it. It's nothing fancy, but the font is legible and the binder holds.

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5 people found this helpful

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Tzar
Good book. So so translation
Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2009
This is a great book in a translation from the 1930's that is pretty bad. It stumbles over idioms and slang so that some sentence make no sense at all. Still worth reading, but there has to be a better version.

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6 people found this helpful

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john d mcmichael
it wasn't the best book I ever read
Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2014
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it wasn't the best book I ever read,but it was interesting.especially for me who's a buff of both mysteries and actual history.thank you.

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Joseph A. Palmer
Four Stars
Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2014
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Very good story of the real life Sherlock Holmes

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Top reviews from other countries

Ian Martin
Good, but the times seemed very violent
Reviewed in Canada on January 13, 2018
Verified Purchase
Halfway through reading. Good ,but the times seemed very violent.

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Roger Wilkes
MOSTLT True or false
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 20, 2018
Verified Purchase
No matter if the work is not truly believable it is A REALLY worthwhile read - what a characture

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