Eugénisme

1939 · réf. 79438 — 1939. The Lost English Translation of the 'Citizen of the Americas' on Constitutional Theory Manuscript. Hostos Eugenia Maria de 1839-1903. Hunt Albert. Francis. Jr. 1872-1947 Translator. Constitutional Science: Being the English Version of a Work Entitled "Lecciones De Derecho Constitucional" by Eugenio M. de Hostas. Nahant Massachusetts and Mt. Holly Springs Pennsylvania May 16 1939. 2 volumes. i 229; i 258 ff. Folio 11" x 7-3/4". Typescript bound in stiff textured paper covers with metal brads. Rubbing and light wear to extremities moderate toning to interior light foxing to a few leaves first two leaves of Vol. I loosening. Manuscript corrections additions and redactions in ink and pencil to several leaves in each volume. $2500. An extraordinary and apparently unpublished English translation of the 1887 masterpiece by the "Citizen of the Americas" Eugenio Maria de Hostos. While Hostos is widely celebrated as a pioneer of sociology and pedagogy his Lecciones represents his most rigorous contribution to legal theory synthesizing the development of global constitutional law. In this work Hostos performs a sophisticated comparative analysis utilizing American foundations citing The Federalist Story's Commentaries and the Declaration of Independence to argue for the institutional development of Latin America. The translator Albert Francis Hunt Jr. was a New York University-trained attorney who established a practice in Puerto Rico by 1906 placing him at the epicenter of the island's legal transition following the Insular Cases. Hunt's deep immersion in this post-1898 landscape likely motivated his project to bridge the gap between Spanish civil law and American constitutionalism. In a 1939 centenary tribute Hunt explicitly compared Hostos to Emerson and Lincoln lamenting that his "timeless ideas" remained ignored by the English-speaking world. Despite Hunt's claims of translating other major works by Hostos such as Moral Social and Sociologia no such publications appear in the Library of Congress or major bibliographical databases. This manuscript stands as a vital primary source for the study of 20th- century Pan-Americanism and the intellectual effort to translate Latin American liberal thought for a North American audience. unknown