An Essay on the Principle of Population [Bayntun Riviere Binding]. 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.

Ninth Edition. 21 x 14 cm. xv, 551 pages. Later fine polished calf. Dark blue and green spine labels. Gilt titles and decorations. All edges gilt. Marbled end papers. Binder Stamp ('Bound by Bayntun Riviere Bath England') on verso of front free end paper. Near fine condition. Minor shelf wear, rubbing and bumping. Joint and hinges started to crack. Internally bright and clean. Thomas Robert Malthus (1766 - 1834) was an English economist, cleric, and scholar influential in the fields of political economy and demography. One of the most important and influential works in the history of economic thought. The central idea of the essay - and hub of the Malthusian theory - was a simple one. If the natural increase in population occurs the food supply becomes insufficient, and the size of the population is checked by 'misery' - that is the poorest sections of the community suffer disease and famine. Malthus recognises two other possible checks to population expansion: first 'vice' - that is, homosexuality, prostitution, and abortion (all totally unacceptable to Malthus); and second 'moral restraint' - the voluntary limitation of the product of children by the postponement of marriage" (PMM). "For today's readers, living in a post-Malthus era, the world's population problems are well known and serious, but no longer sensational. It is difficult therefore to appreciate the radical and controversial impact made by the Essay at the time of publication. It challenged the conventional notion that population growth is an unmixed blessing. It discussed prostitution, contraception, and other sexual matters. And it gave vivid descriptions of the horrendous consequences of overpopulation and of the brutal means by which populations are checked" (ODNB). Despite its unpopularity with liberal critics, Malthus's principle of population became accepted as a central tenet of classical political economy and Charles Darwin acknowledged Malthus's influence in the development of his theory of natural selection. Carpenter XXXII (1); Einaudi 3667; Garrison-Morton 1693; Goldsmiths' 17268; Kress B3693; McCulloch, pp. 259-60; Norman 1431; Printing and the Mind of Man 251. Octavo (212 x 130 mm) (Peter Harrington). …