BECCARIA, CESARE. (1738-1794). Italian Enlightenment thinker whose groundbreaking treatise On Crimes and Punishments condemned capital punishment and torture; he is considered the “father” of criminal law and criminal justice. DS. (“Beccaria”). Signed twice. 1p. Tall 4to. Milan, July 17, 1773. In Italian.

A letter in which Commissioner Francesco Bisesti has detailed his expenses for travels and grain requisition on the lands of the Duchy of Milan under the orders of Gaetano de Rogendorf and Beccaria, who returned the document to the treasurer with two signed notes indicating that he read the document. Rogendorf and Beccaria were representatives of the Regio Ducale Magistrato Camerale, “the body which directed Lombard economic policy” for the Austrian Empire, (“Enlightened Absolutism and Commonlands Enclosure: The Case of Austrian Lombardy,” Agricultural History Grab).

Born into Hapsburg aristocracy, Beccaria studied law and economics at the University of Pavia and, in 1762, published a tract on Milanese currency. Through the informal Milanese literary society “L’Accademia dei pugni” (the Academy of Fists) he became acquainted with such philosophers as Diderot, Montesquieu, Hume, and Helvétius, and began to discuss his interest in penal reform in public. In 1764, with the encouragement of his friend Pietro Verri, founder of the journal Il Caffè and a fellow member of the Academy of Fists, he published his influential treatise Dei delitti e delle pene (On Crimes and Punishments), one of the first modern arguments against capital punishment and torture and “one of the most influential books in the whole history of criminology,” (Printing and the Mind of Man: A Descriptive Catalogue Illustrating the Impact of Print on the Evolution of Western Civilization During Five Centuries, Carter, et. al.).

His book was “a cri de coeur for a complete reform of penal law giving rise to an intellectual movement for a more rational and enlightened society based on the [Enlightenment’s] social contract philosophy. It became the inspiration of a new and novel philosophical movement for the reduction of all punishments which quickly swept across continental Europe… He was lauded by Voltaire and his work resulted in widespread criminal law reforms being instituted not only in Italy and France but also by Catherine the Great of Russia, Frederick II of Prussia, the King of Sweden and Leopold of Austria… [On Crimes and Punishments was] read by at least two founding fathers and future Presidents of the United States, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. It had a crucial impact on the Constitution of the United States of America, its Bill of Rights and... indeed, Jefferson read the work in the original Italian and copied long passages into his commonplace book,” (Cesare Beccaria: The Genius of “On Crimes and Punishments,” Hostettler).

Lauded by the greatest philosophers of the day, Beccaria, was reportedly reserved and prone to depression, turning away from the limelight, and instead holding a variety of minor political positions, including councilor of state, magistrate and as a member of various commissions. “In 1790 he [was part]... of a commission for the reform of civil and criminal jurisprudence in Lombardy which brought to fruition many of his proposals. His main achievement in life, however, was On Crimes and Punishments both for its transformation of penal law and its emphasis on the moral and social principles on which criminal justice should be based,” (ibid).

Lightly folded with scattered foxing and minimal creasing and wear. In remarkably fresh condition and exceedingly rare. First editions of Dei delitti e delle pene regularly sell for more than $20,000. The most recent autograph to appear at auction was more than thirty years ago, preceded by only one other example.