Maconochie, Capt. Alexander
Thoughts on Convict Management. Hobart Town: J.C. Macdougall, 1838. (pp. [6], vii, [3], 222, [2], 15, [1]).
Bound with General Views Regarding the Social System of Convict Management, Hobart: J.C. Macdougall, 1839 (pp. 44, vii, [1]); The Mark System, W.H. Compton, 1847 (pp. 9, [1]); Emigration, with Advice to Emigrants, John Ollivier, 1848 (pp. 24); Secondary Punishment, John Ollivier, 1848 (pp. 20); The Principles of Punishment, John Ollivier, 1850 (pp. 24); On Reformatory Discipline in County and Borough Prisons, Birmingham: William Grew and Son, 1851 (pp. 31, [1]); Account of the Public Prison in Valencia, Charles Giplin, 1852 (pp. 18, [2]); Penal Discipline. Three Letters...Published in The Daily News, Thomas Harrison, 1853 (pp. 24); The Mark System, Thomas Harrison, 1855 (pp. iv, 24); On the Mark System, Walton and Mitchell, 1855 (pp. 7, [1]); Note to the Summary of the Contents of Two Recent Pamphlets, Walton and Mitchell, 1855 (pp. 8); Prison Discipline, T. Harrison, 1856 (pp. iv, 28, with original inserted index slip); The Mark System, Mitchell and Son, 1857 (pp. [2], 8, 6, [2], with inserted notes slips) ; Mark System in Western Australia, Mitchell and Son, 1857 (pp. 8); On Punishment, Mitchell and Son, 1857 (pp. 16, with original inserted note slip); The Mark System of Prison Discipline, 1858 (pp. 4); The Mark System, Mitchell and Son, 1859 (pp. [4], 19, [1]); On the Mark System of Prison Discipline, [1859 according to handwritten contents page] (pp. 16).
All bound as one volume, 8vo, full blue calf (upper board detached but present).
Maconochie, known as the "Father of Parole", is another of history's 'Most important people no one has heard of'. It is not his time as a Royal Naval officer, nor his founding role in the Royal Geographic Society that led to the works in this collection, but rather his work with the penal system - and particularly his life-long and mostly unsuccessful quest for penal reform. Like many other reformers, his ideas proved to be ahead of their time and he suffered for them. However they were rediscovered in the mid-20th century and became the basis of the modern penal system.

Maconochie's first written work on prisons comes from a visit to the penal colony in Hobart, Van Diemen's Land (though his first experience was a French prisoner-of-war during the Napoleonic period). He wrote a damning account of the settlement, strongly critical of prison discipline. He complained that a convict regime focused exclusively on punishment crushed the convicts and returned them to society without any spark of enterprise and resentful of their captors. It found fertile ground in Britain, as the Home Secretary Lord Russell was a powerful opponent of transportation. However the implicit criticism of Maconochie's superior Sir John Franklin led to his removal. He would return to Australian life as the Governor of Norfolk Island in 1840. The convicts here were seen as a lost cause and conditions were brutal. Maconochie strove to introduce policies to improve prisoners' lives in return for measurable work and good behaviour. Despite opposition from the entire prison staff he did manage to bring through improvements, but despite favourable reports from Sir George Gipps, he was ordered removed.

After this he returned home and wrote on his experiences and ideas. He was appointed to a prison in Birmingham, but criticism of his methods (though praised for their humanity) led to his removal. Many of the pamphlets in this collection date from his time in Birmingham. He continued pushing for penal reforms until his death in 1860. It was not until many decades later that his ideas would form the basis for the models of rehabilitation, parole, education and training, and rewards for good behaviour which would redefine peneology. The pamphlets in this collection span his life as a reformer, from the scarce Hobart published works, through his time in Birmingham, right up to the year before his death. The only notable period when he was not publishing was 1840 to 1846, roughly being the period when he was living his ideas not writing about them.