SMITH, Captain Alexander. History of the Life and Times of Jonathan Wild, the Celebrated Thief, and Thief-taker General of Great Britain and Ireland, who exceeded all mankind hitherto born in villainy, ingratitude, duplicity, and fraud … with a curious history of his office, for the recovery of stolen property.

Coloured folding frontispiece. London: Printed by and for William Cole, n.d. c.1823. Slim octavo. pp. 24. Modern marbled wrappers. A very good copy. Extremely rare.
No copy of this printing listed on COPAC.
Jonathan Wild, also spelled Wilde (1682 or 1683-1725), was a London underworld figure notable for
operating on both sides of the law, posing as a public-spirited vigilante entitled the “Thief-Taker
General”. He simultaneously ran a significant criminal empire, and used his crime fighting role to
remove rivals and launder the proceeds of his own crimes.

[L4 File F]