First edition, first impression. 224pp with ten monochrome plate illustrations. Red publisher's cloth-covered boards with blind stamped lettering on the front panel, gilt lettering on the spine. 8vo. Cloth is a little worn, gently rounded at corners and spine ends, a few mild indentations on edges. Offset tanning on front free endpaper, rear free endpaper absent, else internally neat, clean and bright.
Arrow was a London Police Officer, enroling with the Metropolitan Police in 1881 and rising to rank of Senior Chief Inspector in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), where he was considered one of the original Big Five at Scotland Yard. unlike many policemen's memoirs, his recollections do not focus on gruesome or headline crimes but rather he uses his experiences to illustrate the history of policing in the capital and looks forward to the future of policing. He retired from the Met in 1907, moving to Barcelona where he organised a Spanish detective force, rousing much criticism and protest which culiminated in Barcelona's Bloody Week.
