Twenty-Five years in The Secret Service. The Recollections of a Spy. With Portraits and Facsimiles. London: Heinemann, 1892. First Edition. Pp vii, 311, [16]. Original green cloth boards, title lettered in gilt to spine. A nice bright copy.

Le Caron (real name: Thomas Billis Beach) was an English spy who infiltrated the Irish republican Fenian movement in the United States and Canada for over two decades. His account provides an unparalleled insider view of the transatlantic Fenian network—its plans, personalities, internal divisions, and clandestine activities. He testified devastatingly before the Times Parnell Commission in 1888–89, linking Parnell’s movement to Fenian violence (though Parnell himself was cleared).

The book served to cement his public image as the man who exposed the “true” nature of Irish nationalism, providing anti-Home Rule propagandists with potent ammunition.