MALTHUS, TR T RBiblio.com
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1803ref. 31325London Printed for J. Johnson by T. Bensley 1803. Large 4to. Later brown hcalf with four raised bands single gilt lines and red leather title-label to spine. First three and last 14 leaves a bit brownspotted title-page and last two leaves marginally repaired at hinge otherwise a very nice clean and solid copy. VIII 4 610 pp. The Great Quarto-edition of Malthus' milestone work the first and most influential book on population. Although being the second edition after the anonymously printed first of 1798 it is so significantly altered revised and expanded that it is considered a new work rather than a new edition. Malthus himself also thought of it as such. It is nearly four times the length of the 1798 essay the title has been changed the title of the first: "An Essay on the Principle of Population as it Affects the Future Improvement of Society with Remarks on the Speculation of Mr. Godwin M. Condorcet and Other Writers" and it is published with Mathus' name as the author not anonymously. All later editions were minor revisions of this heavily expanded and altered second one. "In the course of this inquiry I found that much more had been done than I had been aware of when I first published the essay. The poverty and misery arising from a too rapid increase of population had been distinctly seen and the most violent remedies proposed so long ago as the times of Plato and Aristotle. And of late years the subject had been treated in such a manner by some of the French economists occasionally by Montesquieu and among our own writers by Dr. Franklin Sir James Steuart Mr. Arthur Young and Mr. Townsend as to create a natural surprise that it had not excited more of the publick attention" Preface to the second edition p. IV. The controversial views because of which the work became so influential are most provocative and eyeopening in the second edition in which Malthus for instance for the first time advocates moral restraint meaning sexual abstinence and late marriage and elaborately explains his comparison between the increase of population and food. "The "Essay" was highly influential in the progress of thought in the early nineteenth-century Europe. "Parson" Malthus as Cobbett dubbed him was for many a monster and his views were often grossly misinterpreted. But his influence on social policy whether for good or evil was considerable. The Malthusian theory of population came at the right time to harden the existing feeling against the Poor Laws and Malthus was a leading spirit behind the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834." PMM 251. Thomas Robert Malthus 1766-1834 called the "enfant terrible" of the economists was an English demographer statistician and political economist who is best known for his groundbreaking views on population growth presented in his "Essays on the Principle of Population" which is based on his own prediction that population would outrun food supply causing poverty and starvation. Among other things this caused the legislation which lowered the population of the poor in England. Malthus actually turned political economic and social thought upside down with this work which has caused him to be considered one of the 100 most influential persons in history Hart The 100: A Ranking of the most Influential Persons in History 1978. Malthus was naturally condemned by Marx and Engels and opposed by the socialists universally but the work had an enormous impact on not only politics economics and social sciences but also on natural sciences. For instance both Darwin and Wallace considered Malthus a main source in their development of the theory of natural selection considering him a great philosopher and his Essay on Population one of the most important books ever. "Malthus’s idea of man’s "Struggle for existence" had decisive influence on Charles Darwin and the theory of evolution. Other scientists related this idea to plants and animals which helped to define a piece of the evolutionary puzzle. This struggle for existence of all creatures is the catalyst by which natural selection produces the "survival of the fittest". Thanks to Malthus Darwin recognised the significance of intraspecies competition between populations of the same species e.g. the lamb and the lamb not just interspecies competition between species e.g. the lion and the lamb. Malthusian population thinking also explained how an incipient species could become a full-blown species in a very short timeframe." The second edition must be considered the most important of all the editions. This is far more a work on the problems of over-population than it is a response to Godwin and Condorcet on their works whic is the main concern of the first edition. "Not so much shocked by his own conclusions in his "Essay on Population" first ed. 1798 as driven by a naturally inquiring mind he travelled for three years through Europe gleaning statistics and then published a second edition 1803." Catlin A History of the Political Philosophers 1939 p. 377. PMM 251 first edition. hardcover
1820ref. 143844London: John Murray 1820. Rare first edition of Malthus' classic work. Octavo bound in full diced morocco raised bands gilt titles and tooling to the spine front and rear panels marbled endpapers. In near fine condition. An exceptional presentation. Thomas Malthus was an English economist known for his work in the fields of political economics and demography. His theory that prosperity and production lead not to utopia but to population growth and thereby back to social imbalance known as the "Malthusian trap" was expounded in his Essay on the Principle of Population 1789 one of his most notable and debated works. His Principles of Political Economy was written as a polemic against David Ricardo's On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation and Say's Law arguing that demand did not grow simultaneously with supply but that they should be analyzed independent of each other expounding ideas which became influential on Keynsian economics. Both these works were divisive incurring backlash and support amongst notable economists. The bleak message of his Principle of Population rendered Malthus a notorious figure: Ebenezer Scrooge from A Christmas Carol for example justifies his refusal to give charity as a Malthusian attempt to control the population. John Murray hardcover
1820ref. 151433London: John Murray 1820. First edition. The book was conceived as a series of tracts rather than a comprehensive and systematic treatise though Malthus published it to establish his own position against that of Ricardo with whom he had been having an ongoing debate about the nature of labour demand and profit. "In his 'Principles of Political Economy' Malthus was proposing investment in public work 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 criticized by J. R. McCulloch and Ricardo; the latter prepared extensive critical notes. But more recently it has received greater recognition largely as a result of the comments by J. M. Keynes in the 1930s. Keynes 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. Keynes believed that if economics had followed Malthus instead of being constrained by Ricardo in an artificial groove the world would be a much wiser and richer place" ODNB. Octavo. Uncut and unopened in the original drab paper-backed blue boards printed paper spine label. Housed in a dark blue quarter morocco solander box by the Chelsea Bindery. Engraved book plate "Bibliothèque de Mr de Barante" to front pastedown paper library shelf label to foot of spine. Head of spine chipped front joint cracked rear joint cracked at head spine label a little chipped all still very strong; a very good copy. Goldsmiths' 22767; Kress C.577. hardcover
1798ref. 116955London: J. Johnson 1798. First edition of this cornerstone text of modern economics. Octavo bound in three quarters calf. Laid in is a clipping from an original manuscript signed by Malthus and entirely in his hand which reads in part "If at one time such a given product would make an effectual demand for certain commodities the conditions of the supply of which are supposed to remain the same it would immediately cease to make such effectual." Signed by Malthus in the lower right corner "Malthus." The verso features two further partial lines of text relating to supply and demand. In near fine condition. First editions of Malthus' magnum opus are exceptionally scarce. “Malthus was one of the founders of modern economics. His Essay was originally the product of a discussion on the perfectibility of society with his father who urged him to publish. Thus the first edition published anonymously was essentially a fighting tract but later editions were considerably altered and grew bulkier as Malthus defended his views against a host of critics… The Essay was highly influential in the progress of thought in early 19th-century Europe and his influence on social policy was considerable… Both Darwin and Wallace clearly acknowledged Malthus as a source of the idea of ‘the struggle for existence” PMM 251. J. Johnson unknown
