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. By T. R. Malthus, A.M. Late Fellow of Jesus College Cambridge. In Two Volumes [Two Volumes Third Edition Recent Half Leather Binding]

London: Printed for J. Johnson, in St. Paul's Church-Yard, By T. Bensley, Bolt Court, Fleet Street, 1806. Third Edition – collated and complete. Two volumes, in recent dark calf with gilt titles to red leather labels, gilt bands, marbled paper covered boards, new end papers, text blocks tight, tanned and foxed throughout, with some creasing, damp staining and wrinkling to the pages. Thomas Robert Malthus FRS (1766–1834) was an English economist, cleric, and scholar influential in the fields of political economy and demography. In his 1798 book An Essay on the Principle of Population, Malthus observed that an increase in a nation's food production improved the well-being of the population, but the improvement was temporary because it led to population growth, which in turn restored the original per capita production level. In other words, humans had a propensity to use abundance for population growth rather than for maintaining a high standard of living, a view and stance that has become known as the "Malthusian trap" or the "Malthusian spectre". Populations had a tendency to grow until the lower class suffered hardship, want and greater susceptibility to war, famine, and disease, a pessimistic view that is sometimes referred to as a Malthusian catastrophe. Pagination: xvi, 505, [63]pp; vii, [i], 559pp. Signatures: A to Nn in gatherings of 8, Oo in gathering of 4; A in gathering of 4, B-Nn in gatherings of 8. Provenance: no inscription or bookplates. Approximately 8 ½ inches tall (21.5cm). Condition Report Externally Spine – very good condition – recent dark calf with gilt titles to red labels, gilt bands, gilt volume numbers. Joints – very good condition – sound. Corners – very good condition – sound. Boards – very good condition – half calf and marbled boards. Page edges – good condition – top edge darkened gilt, others tanned and foxed. See above and photos. Internally Hinges – very good condition – secure. Paste downs – very good condition – plain paper. End papers – very good condition – plain paper, subsequently tanned and foxed. Title – good condition – tanned and minorly foxed. Pages – good condition – foxed, tanned with minor marks throughout, some damp staining to the end pages of Vol I, creasing and waviness to the pages. See photos.…