Pédés : le premier registre infamant de la Préfecture de police de Paris au XIXe siècle : suivi d'un Dictionnaire des noms propres et noms communs les plus significatifs du registre, et d'annexes

Jean-Claude Féray

Composed essentially towards the end of the year 1852 and completed at the very beginning of 1853, this nominative register of "pederasts" of the Prefecture of police constitutes a kind of realistic, complete and striking photograph, of the Paris homosexual life in the XIXth century before the second Empire. Written by the police for the police, without the precautions of use, this text is consequently more authentic than all that could be published on "pederasty" at the same time, whether novels or testimonials. The document, transcribed faithfully, is accompanied by a dictionary of proper names and common names relating to the register, which allows to reconstitute this particular area of Parisian life as it had never been done before. In the Appendices, other documentary sources relating to the same period are grouped in order to corroborate and complete the vital information provided by this register.