[Rarebooks] fa: BECCARIA - DES DELITS ET DES PEINES [Of Crimes & Punishments] Philadelphia: 1766

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, July 12. More details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching for the seller name arch_in_la.

http://tinyurl.com/onqyjs8

Thanks again,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.

[Cesare Beccaria; André Morellet, trans.]: Traite des Delits et des Peines, traduit de l'italien, d'apres la troisieme Edition revue, corrigee et augmentee par l'Auteur. Avec des Additions de l'Auteur, qui n'ont pas encore paru en Italien. Nouvelle Edition plus correcte que les precedentes. Philadelphie: [s.n.], 1766. Tall 12mo (17 cm) in 19th-century half calf and speckled boards; xxxvi + 239 + [1] pp.

Rare early translation (preceding the first English translation) of Beccaria's radical and groundbreaking treatise on crime and criminals, Dei Delitti e delle Pene, first published in Italy two years before. The Philadelphia imprint is fitting, as the work had a profound influence on the Founding Fathers, especially Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. (It must be said, however, that the imprint is probably spurious; Paris is the more likely place of publication.) This enlightened treatise, the first full-scale work of penology, did more than any other eighteenth-century work to further the cause of legal and penal reform and is considered "one of the most influential books in the whole history of criminology… Beccaria maintained that the gravity of the crime should be measured by its injury to society and that the penalties should be related to this. The prevention of crime he held to be of greater importance than its punishment, and the certainty of punishment of greater effect than its  severity. He denounced the use of torture and secret judicial proceedings. He opposed capital punishment, which should be replaced by life imprisonment; crimes against property should be in the first place punished by fines, political crimes by banishment; and the conditions in prisons should be radically improved... The success of Beccaria's book was immediate, six editions being published within eighteen months, and it was eventually translated into twenty-two languages. Its principles have been incorporated into the criminal practice of all civilized countries… " (PMM, pp. 125-6).

Rubbing and scuffs to the spine with loss of the original spine label, front joint cracking at the ends but secure; text block with a hint of toning/darkening to the top edge, otherwise very clean and crisp, firmly bound. Front free-endpaper with the neat early ink signature and annotations of "M. Tijoeman, 1808, Mai."