Author:
Joseph Contrafatto (b.1798) [l'abbé Contrafatto], Sicilian-born French priest; sentenced to hard labour for an 'affaire de mœurs'; imprisoned, 1827; released, 1845 [Félix Barthe; paedophilia]
Publication details:
Brest le 15 Juin 1831' [Bagne de Brest].
4to: 2 pp. Eighteen lines of text. Very good on aged paper. Docketed. Written while a convict at the Bagne de Brest. Titled by Contrafatto in top left-hand corner 'Direction des affaires Criminelles et des grâces.' Begins with a Latin quotation on the subject of crime and innocence, to which he adds the comment 'Quel est celui qui, plus que moi, ait le droit d'invoquer ce principe tutélaire?' In a six-line paragraph attempts to flatter Barthe ('[...] l'ornement du Barreau avant d'être appelé dans le conseil du Roi.
