Against Torture

Dirck Volckertsz. Coornhert, Wercken. Amsterdam: Jacob Aertsz. Colom, 1630 [=1629-1632]. 3 vols. Fol.

Famous edition of Coornhert’s collected works, although it does not contain all of his works and also includes new, until then unpublished works. The printer Tournay from Gouda, who had published many of Coornhert’s works, had already started the effort in 1612, but did not publish more than one part. About seventy-nine titles (not including reprints) by Coornhert are known. During his own imprisonment in The Hague (1567-1568) he wrote about the prison system as a form of punishment and the reasons for criminality; it was published anonymously in 1587, but included in this edition of his collected works. Coornhert advocates preventive measures against ’idlers’ and criminals, such as employment as manual labourers, and unskilled but useful work should also be performed in prisons, for which a small fee should even be given.