This rare complete set of Les Mystères de Londres represents one of the most intriguing literary phenomena of the mid-19th century: the rise of the urban mystery novel. Published in Paris between roughly 1844 and 1847 and credited to “Sir Francis Trolopp”, the work is in fact by the prolific French novelist Paul Féval — a master of crime fiction, melodrama, and the emerging feuilleton culture.
Féval’s Mystères series, inspired by the enormous European success of Eugène Sue’s Mystères de Paris, transported readers into a shadowed London of crime, vice, espionage, and moral ambiguity. Blending sensational narrative with sharp social observation, it contributed to the birth of modern detective and urban mystery literature.
This collection gathers all nine volumes of the French edition, each preserved in elegant period calf bindings with gilt-decorated spines, marbled boards, and red edges. The books retain their compact 16mo format, designed for portability and serial reading — a hallmark of feuilleton literature consumed rapidly by a wide audience eager for each new installment.
Uniform sets of this early Mystères de Londres series are uncommon. Most surviving examples are fragmentary, rebound, or heavily worn from their original mass-market use. This set, despite expected wear to the leather, remains coherent, solid, and historically evocative.
One volume contains a small hand-drawn bookmark, a simple yet intimate artifact left by a 19th-century reader. Such ephemeral traces are increasingly valued in book history, speaking to how the volumes were read, handled, and cherished.
Author: Paul Féval, writing as “Sir Francis Trolopp”
Title: Les Mystères de Londres
Publisher: Paris / Boulé, ca. 1844–47
Volumes: Complete in 9 volumes
Format: 16mo
Binding: Period tinted calf with gilt spines, marbled boards, red edges
Condition:
– Bindings solid and uniform, moderate wear to spines and corners
– Interiors clean, legible, and well preserved
– Includes one hand-drawn bookmark
Les Mystères de Londres stands at the crossroads of popular literature, early crime writing, and transnational cultural imagination. It captures a moment when serialized novels shaped public taste and when Parisian readers devoured tales of foreign intrigue. A complete period-bound set offers a rare opportunity to hold a full cycle of Féval’s early work in its original material form.
For collectors of 19th-century French literature, feuilletons, crime fiction history, or decorative bindings, this is an exceptional and atmospheric ensemble.
This rare complete set of Les Mystères de Londres represents one of the most intriguing literary phenomena of the mid-19th century: the rise of the urban mystery novel. Published in Paris between roughly 1844 and 1847 and credited to “Sir Francis Trolopp”, the work is in fact by the prolific French novelist Paul Féval — a master of crime fiction, melodrama, and the emerging feuilleton culture.
Féval’s Mystères series, inspired by the enormous European success of Eugène Sue’s Mystères de Paris, transported readers into a shadowed London of crime, vice, espionage, and moral ambiguity. Blending sensational narrative with sharp social observation, it contributed to the birth of modern detective and urban mystery literature.
This collection gathers all nine volumes of the French edition, each preserved in elegant period calf bindings with gilt-decorated spines, marbled boards, and red edges. The books retain their compact 16mo format, designed for portability and serial reading — a hallmark of feuilleton literature consumed rapidly by a wide audience eager for each new installment.
Uniform sets of this early Mystères de Londres series are uncommon. Most surviving examples are fragmentary, rebound, or heavily worn from their original mass-market use. This set, despite expected wear to the leather, remains coherent, solid, and historically evocative.
One volume contains a small hand-drawn bookmark, a simple yet intimate artifact left by a 19th-century reader. Such ephemeral traces are increasingly valued in book history, speaking to how the volumes were read, handled, and cherished.
Author: Paul Féval, writing as “Sir Francis Trolopp”
Title: Les Mystères de Londres
Publisher: Paris / Boulé, ca. 1844–47
Volumes: Complete in 9 volumes
Format: 16mo
Binding: Period tinted calf with gilt spines, marbled boards, red edges
Condition:
– Bindings solid and uniform, moderate wear to spines and corners
– Interiors clean, legible, and well preserved
– Includes one hand-drawn bookmark
Les Mystères de Londres stands at the crossroads of popular literature, early crime writing, and transnational cultural imagination. It captures a moment when serialized novels shaped public taste and when Parisian readers devoured tales of foreign intrigue. A complete period-bound set offers a rare opportunity to hold a full cycle of Féval’s early work in its original material form.
For collectors of 19th-century French literature, feuilletons, crime fiction history, or decorative bindings, this is an exceptional and atmospheric ensemble.
