HOWARD, John

The State of the Prisons in England and Wales...

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William Eyres for Cadell and Conant London, 1780. Octavo, with eleven folding engraved plates including seven highly detailed architectural plans, occasional inoffensive offsetting, some water-staining to the margins of the text and affecting the plates, yet very good in handsome contemporary tree calf with gilt tooled spine and red morocco label (joints and spine ends a bit worn). Second and best edition of John Howard's exhaustive and highly influential examination of the prisons of Britain and Europe, considerably enlarged from the first edition of 1777 with an additional seven engraved folding plates. Howard's incisive criticism of British gaols was contemporary with recent discoveries in the Pacific, marking the work out as one of the fundamental works in the debate that would culminate in the establishment of the penal colony at Botany Bay.

In 1773 Howard accepted the office of high sheriff of Bedford and was appalled by the conditions in the local gaol, especially the mercenary extraction of funds from prisoners by the gaoler and his wardens. So began an exhaustive examination of British gaols that revealed squalor, vice and disease at every turn. Howard initiated a highly successful campaign to remedy the situation, and in 1774 he gave evidence to a parliamentary committee which initiated legislation wherein gaolers were paid a fixed salary to minimise their extraction of prisoners, while all those detained without charge were immediately released. Howard continued to agitate for better food and medical care and launched a systematic inspection of British and continental gaols.

Howard's study is a landmark in the history of criminology, combining genuine compassion with the finer aspects of utilitarian philosophy. Like his successor Jeremy Bentham, Howard took great interest in the architecture of prisons and demonstrated that improving the penal environment promoted rehabilitation and reduced recidivism. This second edition features eleven folding plates of which seven are detailed plans of existing prisons including Newgate and the Bastille.

The State of Prisons is a rich source of statistical data and detailed description of the highest historical importance. Interestingly, this second edition expands upon the condition of the Thames hulks based on a series of visits made in 1779. Howard reports that the pursers weights were doctored for personal gain and that new rations of cloth and bedding had been issued specifically for his visits to the Justicia and her sister hulk the Censor. He reports horrific mortality rates on the hulk Justicia: between August 1776 and March 1778 a staggering 176 of the 632 prisoners had died. The appalling conditions and vice on the hulks led to their widespread condemnation and calls for transportation as a preferable state of affairs.

Tragically, Howard died in the Crimea in 1790 from the same prison fever he sought to eradicate. He draws comparisons between the elimination of scurvy at sea and maintaining the health of prisoners and refers to the scholarship of Sir John Pringle and Dr. James Lind, both eminent contemporary physicians of the scurvy problem.
HBS, 7975; Printing and the Mind of Man, 224; Rothschild, 1163-1164.

• AUD 3,500.00 > Andere Währungen
• Bestellnummer: 807_705

• Antiquariat: Hordern House (AUSTRALIA)