[Rarebooks] fa: MALTHUS On POPULATION + ADDITIONS + CORN LAWS 1807-17 - 1st & 4th Eds. in Handsome Period Calf

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, along with several other examples of 18th & 19th-century  
philosophy and political economy, auctions ending Sunday, Feb. 28.  
Details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching under  
the seller name arch_in_la.

http://shop.ebay.com/arch_in_la/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p4340
OR
http://tinyurl.com/yhk74ma

Thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A., CA USA

T. R. Malthus: 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. [BOUND WITH:] Observations on the Effects of the  
Corn Laws, and of a Rise or Fall in the Price of Corn on the  
Agriculture and General Wealth of the Country. London: Printed for J.  
Johnson, 1807, 1814. Two volumes. [WITH:] Additions to the Fourth and  
Former Editions of An Essay on the Principle of Population, &c. &c.  
London: John Murray, 1817.
FIRST EDITIONS of the Observations and Additions, fourth edition of  
the Essay. Together, three volumes, 8vo (22 cm), uniformly bound in  
full period polished calf with gilt-tooled borders and spines, morocco  
spine labels, marbled endpapers; all half-titles present (none called  
for in the Additions).

A work so revolutionary and influential that its author's name has  
become forever fixed in the lexicon as an adjective: "Malthusian"  
provokes connotations as vivid as does "Orwellian" or "Dickensian."  
First published in 1798, the Essay on the Principle of Population —  
with its scepticism regarding the perfectibility of human society and  
its grim view of famine, war and disease as natural and indeed  
necessary checks on population growth, especially among the poor —  
ignited a firestorm of controversy that raged for more than a century  
and still shoots off sparks today. Though Malthus added new material  
to subsequent editions of his work, the revisions were relatively  
minor until the Additions, published separately in 1817, and included  
here. This material was also incorporated into the fifth edition,  
published the same year.

This set also includes, bound into the second volume after the Essay,  
the Observations on the Effects of the Corn Laws, in which Malthus,  
atypically for him, argues against draconian measures then being  
debated in parliament which would ban the importation of cheap foreign  
corn and lead to higher food prices. A year later, he executed a brisk  
about-face, coming out on the side of the protectionists. The Corn  
Laws were passed in 1815, leading to riots, the Peterloo Massacre, and  
widespread starvation among the poor, results which must have been  
edifying to the Rev. Malthus.