To Benjamin Franklin from Gaetano Filangieri, 21 April 1784
From Gaetano Filangieri
Translation of ALS in Italian:3 Historical Society of Pennsylvania
La Cava, April 21, 1784
Sir,
On the 20th of November of last year, 1783, I sent you the fourth volume of my work on La scienza della legislazione,4 and a few days later I shipped, via Marseille, a trunk containing more copies of the same volume, in the same quantity as the other volumes you had previously received through Mr. Pio.5 Before that, I had sent you a copy of the third volume as well as another trunk, addressed to Mr. Pio, with the corresponding number of copies of that volume.6 However, I did not receive, either from you or from Mr. Pio, a confirmation that these books of mine had actually reached their destination. This silence from both of you makes me fear they are lost, and since in this case I would like to repair the loss, please send a response on this matter. My work proceeds quickly in my solitude, where all possible causes of delay are removed by the isolation that separates me from the rest of mankind. I hope to receive news of your precious health, and I remind you of the most sincere admiration and respect from Your most humble and devoted servant,
Gaetano Filangieri
3. Prepared by Roberto Lopez. The Italian original is published in Antonio Pace, Benjamin Franklin and Italy (Philadelphia, 1958), pp. 401–2, and in Eugenio Lo Sardo, ed., Il mondo nuovo e le virtù civili: l’espistolario di Gaetano Filangieri (1772–1788) (Naples, 1999), pp. 260–1.
4. Filangieri’s cover letter is dated Oct. 27. Luigi Pio, in Paris, forwarded the volume to BF on Dec. 12: XLI, 148, 286. Perhaps Nov. 20 was the day Filangieri sent the book to Pio.
5. In March, 1783, Pio informed BF that 12 copies of the first two volumes of Filangieri’s work had arrived for him: XXXIX, 360–1.
6. BF’s personal copy of the third volume was forwarded by Pio on Aug. 10, 1783: XL, 460. No record of either of the trunks has been found.