[BECCARIA, Cesare Bonesana, Marchese].

Von den Verbrechen und Strafen. Aus dem Italiänischen mit des Hrn. Verfassers eigenen noch nicht gedruckten Ergänzungen nach der neuesten Auflage ins Deutsche übersetzt und mit vielen Anmerkungen vermehrt.

Ulm, Albrecht Friedrich Bartholomäi, 1767. 8vo, pp. [vi], 214; with an engraved frontispiece; a very good copy in contemporary boards, spine rubbed, with a gilt-lettered paper label. First edition of a rare early translation of Dei delitti e delle pene (1764). This is the second appearance of Beccaria’s great work in German; another translation, by Albrecht Wittenberg, was published the previous year (Abhandlung von den Verbrechen und Strafen, Hamburg, Bock, 1766). The present version is the work of the Ulm writer Jacob Schultes (1727–1771) and is issued here with commentary from Johann Daniel Bartholomäi (1729–1790), a local jurist and the printer’s brother. Beccaria (1738–1794) is considered the father of the modern penal system. His book Dei delitti e delle pene, the first systematic study of the principle of punishment, had an immediate impact and caused a Europe-wide reform of national penal codes. ‘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 … Beccaria believed that the publication of criminal proceedings, verdicts and sentences, as well as furthering general education, would help to prevent crime. These ideas have now become so commonplace that it is difficult to appreciate their revolutionary impact at the time’ (PMM).Manuppella 228; RLIN locates the Harvard copy only; not in OCLC; see PMM 209 for the first edition.

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