Tocqueville, Alexis de, and Gustave de Beaumont

Du Système Pénitentiaire aux États-Unis et de son Application en France. Paris: H. Fournier jeune, 1833

8vo (8 1/4 x 4 7/8 in.; 210 x 124 mm). Half-title, 5 plates (of which 2 are folding); occasional light spotting, heavier on plates which are somewhat browned. Later half-calf over marbled boards, gilt-stamped black morocco title label on spine, marbled edges, pink silk placeholder; joints and corners worn.

Acquisition: Ursus Rare Books

Sabin 4190; Norman 2084

Half-title, 5 plates (of which 2 are folding); occasional light spotting, heavier on plates which are somewhat browned. Later half-calf over marbled boards, gilt-stamped black morocco title label on spine, marbled edges, pink silk placeholder; joints and corners worn.
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First edition. The first systematic study of the American prison system, written by two friends sent by the French government to gather data. It was this trip which provided Tocqueville with the observations enriching his Democracy in America (1835).

To address a crime wave sweeping France, whose prisons failed to reform offenders, the French government turned to America for ideas, at that time in the forefront of enlightened prison design. In the report, Beaumont and Tocqueville describe two methods of guarding and reforming prisoners: a communitarian system exemplified in Auburn, New York, and an isolationist (solitary confinement) system applied at Cherry Hill in Philadelphia favored by the authors. English and German translations of this work appeared in the same year as the original edition.

Only one copy has appeared at auction since 1975 (Norman copy, 1998).