London, Dean & Son, 1889. First edition, first impression. Hardback. A very good copy. Rebound in paper-covered boards. Marbled edges. Nice internally. The author's first book. "This shilling shocker, at first glance a detective thriller, is admissable as science fiction. The protagonists are sons of an old Bow Street Runner, who have inherited an abnormally high degree of natural, animal, instinct. One becomes something of a super-detective, with an almost supernatural ability to detect and track criminals - an interesting (and atavistic) contrast to the human (occasionally super-human!) processes of deduction being employed by other detectives from Sherlock Holmes down." [Locke, Spectrum I] [11206, Hyraxia Books].