NICOLAS (Augustin). Si la torture est un moyen seur a verifi - Lot 298

NICOLAS (Augustin). Si la torture est un moyen seur a verifier les crimes secrets; Dissertation morale et juridique, Par lequel il est amplement traitté des Abus qui se commettent par tout en l'Instruction des Procés Criminels, & particulierement en la recherche du Sortilege. Amsterdam, Abraham Wolfgang, 1682. In-8°, 224, [8] pp. Basane fauve, spine with 5 ornate nerves, t. p. in red morocco, edges speckled with red (Binding of the period). Second edition, published one year after the original. Manifesto for the abolition of torture, a century before BECCARIA. Although the work was dedicated to LOUIS XIV, Nicolas did not obtain the right to publish it in France and was forced to print it in Amsterdam. Of note, pp. 219-224, are the "Opinions dangereuses & peu solides du Sieur Jean Boguet, en son Instruction pour un Juge en fait de Sortilège, mise à la fin de son livre intitulé Discours des Sorciers, & dans tout le reste de cet Ouvrage." The instruction from S. Office de Rome sent to all inquisitors, noted by PERROD at the end of some copies, does not appear in this one. Ex-libris ms. "Cornet, 1701 [?]"; from the library of Frans DEVRIENDT, with their engraved bookplate. Perrod cites only this edition (1580-7). Discrete restorations, some foxing. A good copy.