The History of the Scoundrel Van"ka Kain and Milord George (both titles are abbreviated) were very popular Russian adventure novels (loubok) of the 18th century. Leo Tolstoi called their author, Matvei Komarov, "the most famous Russian writer". These two books introduced for the first time the slang of the Russian underworld. Mikhail Grachev, a professor of philology, presents his new studies in the history and etymology of the jargon of the specific groups of the underworld in this book. Also available by the same author: Istoriko-Etimologicheskii Slovar" Vorovskogo Zhargona (2000).