Item Details
Memoirs of the United States Secret Service. [compiled by permission form the Department Records] with Accurate Portraits of Prominent Members of the Detective Force, Some of their Most Notable Captures, and a Brief Account of the Life of Col. H.C. Whitley, Chief of the Division.
Lee & Shepard: Boston, 1872. First Edition. Hardcover. Laid in mms letter, on Treasury Dept. letterhead, by John Wilkie dated May 1, 1901 (while he was the head of the United States Secret Service from. Famously, and using the name "Fred S. Ellmore" ("Fred Sell More") Wilkie wrote of the Indian Rope Trick (in 1890 while a journalist with the Chicago Tribune) to great review and acclaim-not bad for a hoax. He spent 14 years as the director of the Secret Service during a critical time in the Service's evolution. The letter discusses a short story he apparently wrote for consideration for publication in The Youth's Companion...and in a second hand is the notation, "This story, $100.00)" We have not been able to track down the title of the story...which is believed to have been published under a pseudonym and has not, to date, been credited to Wilkie. A handsome copy with interesting ephemera. Very Good. No DJ. Light shelf/edge wear, light toning at spine, light fraying at head and tail, small closed tear at the head, penciled owner signature (1872) at first blank, front hinge starting, else tight, bright, and unmarred. Red cloth boards, gilt lettering and decorative elements, black endpages, advert tipped in at ffep (Heath's Infallible Counterfeit Detector), frontispiece, tissueguard. 8vo. 426pp. Illus. (b/w plates). Laid in letter. Item #5836
Price: $245.00