BECCARIA, di Bonesana Cesare.MareMagnum
Dei delitti e delle pene. MDCCLXIV.
in-4 (204x150 mm), pp. 104 (privo del foglio d'errata aggiunto in alcuni esemplari), legatura coeva in pergamena rigida. Edizione originale di una delle più importanti opere nella storia del pensiero moderno, vera e propria pietra miliare nel campo della legislazione ed uno dei testi che influenzarono la ''Dichiarazione dei diritti dell'uomo''. Il trattato del filosofo e giurista milanese (1738-1794) ebbe uno straordinario successo nel secolo dei lumi, dovuto all'opportunità della maggior parte delle riforme auspicate, parecchie delle quali furono in effetti, e con successo, adottate. L'opera di Beccaria ebbe in edizioni successive il commento di Diderot e di Voltaire, e fu conosciuta ed ammirata da uomini come d'Alembert, Helvétius, Holbach, Hume e Hegel. La sua efficacia fu grande nel campo della pratica, poiché del suo influsso risentì più o meno profondamente la nuova legislazione penale di tutti i prìncipi riformatori. "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 the crime he held to be of greater importance than its punishment, and the certainty of punishment of greater effect than its severity. [His] ideas have now become so commonplace that it is difficult to appreciate their revolutionary impact at the time." (PMM). E' sicuramente una tra le opere più innovative e rivoluzionarie sulla riforma penale e la criminologia, in opposizione alla pena di morte, in perfetta sintonia con le idee umanitarie dell'Illuminismo europeo. Esemplare non pressato, a grandi margini e fresco (da due a cinque puntini di ossidazione su qualche foglio). 4to (204x150 mm), pp. 104 (without the leaf of errata which was added to some copies). First edition of the most significant Italian contribution to European Enlightenment, that at its appearance was immediately greeted with enthusiastic acclaim throughout Europe. In the essay, Beccaria harshly criticizes the current legislation and the prison treatment of detainees (in particular the aberrant, but widespread practice of torture), rejecting in block much of the previous legal tradition and placing at the center of his reflection the respect for the rights of the individual, in particular the so-called natural rights, such as the right to freedom and ownership. For prudential reasons, the author's name does not appear in the text, which soon after was included in the Index of Prohibited Books. Within eighteen months, the book passed through six editions, and later with false printing places (Munich, Lausanne, Harlem, etc.), in editions that were mostly incorrect and illegitimate counterfeits. The reforms he had advocated led to the abolition of the death penalty in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the first state in the world to take this measure. Thanks to the translation into all major languages of the time, "On Crimes and Punishments" came to influence, more or less directly, Catherine of Russia, Joseph II, Leopold II, Voltaire, J. Bentham, W. Blackstone, and Thomas Jefferson, and the legislators of the American and French Revolutions. It was translated into French in 1766 and published with an anonymous commentary by Voltaire. An English translation appeared in 1767, and it was translated into several other languages. John Adams invoked Beccaria's words in his defence of British soldiers following the Boston Massacre in 1770: "I am for the prisoners at the bar, and shall apologize for it only in the words of the Marquis Beccaria: 'If I can but be the instrument of preserving one life, his blessing and tears of transport, shall be a sufficient consolation to me, for the contempt of all mankind'." Thomas Jefferson in his Commonplace Book copied a passage from Beccaria related to the issue of gun control. A fine copy, with large margins, with very few small spots (two to five) on some of the leaves.. Printing and the Mind of Man 209. Firpo I, p. 539, 1. Cat. Einaudi 3362. Govi, Classici: ''rare copies have an extra leaf at the end containing an errata with 21 corrections''. A. Caso, America"s Italian Founding Fathers, Boston, 1975. Harcourt, Becarria"s On Crimes and Punishments. A Mirror on the History of the Foundations of Modern Criminal Law, Chicago, 2013. Hostettler, C.Beccaria. The Genius of "On Crimes and Punishments", 2011..
Libreria Antiquaria Pregliasco · Torino, IT21 000,00 €
