An Essay on the Principle of Population; or, A view of its Past and Present Effects on Human Happiness; With an inquiry into our prospects respecting the future removal or mitigation of the evils which it occasions -
Rev. Thomas Robert Malthus
1826 - John Murray, London - Sixth Edition
A finely bound early edition of this classic text proposing a limit to global human population, an important and influential work on economics. ‘There can be no doubt that [Keynes’] importance for economists today rests mainly on Principles of Political Economy. It was because of the latter work that J. M. Keynes reinstated Malthus as a major figure in modern economic thought’ - (New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics).
In his Theory of Economic Analysis, Schumpeter, reviewing ‘Principles of Political Economy’, and Malthus’ presentation of the theory of demand and supply, comes to the conclusion that Malthus should ‘stand in the history of analysis not only as the author of a valid alternative to Ricardo's theory but as the sponsor (or rather as one of the sponsors) of the victorious one.’
‘If only Malthus, instead of Ricardo, had been the parent stem from which nineteenth-century economics proceeded, what a much wiser and richer place the world would be today’ - J. M. Keynes. ‘In his Principles of Political Economy, Malthus was proposing investment in public works and private luxury as a means of increasing effective demand, and hence as a palliative to economic distress. The nation, he thought, must balance the power to produce and the will to consume’ (DSB)
‘The Principles had only a limited impact at the time, and was severely criticised by J. R. McCulloch and Ricardo; the latter prepared extensive critical notes. More recently it has received greater recognition, largely as a result of the comments by J. M. Keynes in the 1930s, who argued that Malthus's theory of effective demand provided a scientific explanation of unemployment, and that the hundred-year domination of Ricardo over Malthus had been a disaster for the progress of economics.’ (ODNB).
Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834) was an English demographer and political economist, for most of his life he was professor of modern history and political economy at the East India Company College, Haileybury. There Malthus developed a theory of demand supply mismatches which he called gluts. Considered ridiculous at the time, his theory was a precursor to later theories about the Great Depression, and to the works of John Maynard Keynes. Malthus is widely regarded as the founder of modern demography.
Provenance: Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland, with their ink stamp to title and first page of each volume.
References: Printing and the Mind of Man 251. Einuadi 3680. Goldsmiths 22767. Kress C577. Mattioli 2221. DSB - Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Keynes - Essays in Biography.
Two large octavos (binding size 22.8x14.8cm), pp. [2] xvii 535 [7]; [2] iv 528 [2]. Bound in recent three-quarter light brown calf over matching marbled boards, spines in six compartments, lettered and ruled in gilt, with burgundy morocco labels lettered in gilt, top edges dark brown tint, others with light brown tint. Condition: Fine but for some light spotting to endpapers, in fine bindings. Ref: 112369 Price: HK$ 8,000
In his Theory of Economic Analysis, Schumpeter, reviewing ‘Principles of Political Economy’, and Malthus’ presentation of the theory of demand and supply, comes to the conclusion that Malthus should ‘stand in the history of analysis not only as the author of a valid alternative to Ricardo's theory but as the sponsor (or rather as one of the sponsors) of the victorious one.’
‘If only Malthus, instead of Ricardo, had been the parent stem from which nineteenth-century economics proceeded, what a much wiser and richer place the world would be today’ - J. M. Keynes. ‘In his Principles of Political Economy, Malthus was proposing investment in public works and private luxury as a means of increasing effective demand, and hence as a palliative to economic distress. The nation, he thought, must balance the power to produce and the will to consume’ (DSB)
‘The Principles had only a limited impact at the time, and was severely criticised by J. R. McCulloch and Ricardo; the latter prepared extensive critical notes. More recently it has received greater recognition, largely as a result of the comments by J. M. Keynes in the 1930s, who argued that Malthus's theory of effective demand provided a scientific explanation of unemployment, and that the hundred-year domination of Ricardo over Malthus had been a disaster for the progress of economics.’ (ODNB).
Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834) was an English demographer and political economist, for most of his life he was professor of modern history and political economy at the East India Company College, Haileybury. There Malthus developed a theory of demand supply mismatches which he called gluts. Considered ridiculous at the time, his theory was a precursor to later theories about the Great Depression, and to the works of John Maynard Keynes. Malthus is widely regarded as the founder of modern demography.
Provenance: Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland, with their ink stamp to title and first page of each volume.
References: Printing and the Mind of Man 251. Einuadi 3680. Goldsmiths 22767. Kress C577. Mattioli 2221. DSB - Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Keynes - Essays in Biography.
Two large octavos (binding size 22.8x14.8cm), pp. [2] xvii 535 [7]; [2] iv 528 [2]. Bound in recent three-quarter light brown calf over matching marbled boards, spines in six compartments, lettered and ruled in gilt, with burgundy morocco labels lettered in gilt, top edges dark brown tint, others with light brown tint. Condition: Fine but for some light spotting to endpapers, in fine bindings. Ref: 112369 Price: HK$ 8,000