This collection of eight stories features the debut of Arsène Lupin, the French ‘gentleman-cambrioleur (burglar).’ The book was released on 10 June 1907 and sales undoubtedly benefited from the ‘Holmes mania’ that was sweeping France at the time. However, all the tales had previously been published in the then new French magazine, Je Sais Tout, the first appearing on 15 July 1905, with the magazine promoting the character as ‘the famous Arsène Lupin … the mysterious burglar whose exploits had been the subject of newspaper stories for months … the man of a thousand disguises….[Lupin’s] creator legitimately enjoys the glory of being France’s answer to Arthur Conan Doyle.