George Washington Matsell (1811-1877) was the first New York City Police Commissioner. This dictionary of American thieves' cant, compiled from the most authent

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing the

An excerpt from the beginning of the PREFACE: WHEN young man enters upon the business of life, he may have some indefinite idea, of what he intends to follow ou

The second volume of Julie Coleman's entertaining and revealing history of the recording and uses of slang and criminal cant takes the story from 1785 to 1858,