Report from the select committee of the House of Commons on petitions relating to the corn laws of this kingdom: together with the minutes of evidence and an appendix of accounts

First edition, 8vo, pp. iv, 259 [i.e., 260], xlvi, [2]; original blue paper-covered boards, brown paper shelfback, printed paper label on spine; label rubbed, spine ends chipped, corners bumped; all else very good. Among those testifying before the committee were Morris Birbeck and Arthur Young, agricultural and travel writer, and at the time secretary to the Board of Agriculture. "The Corn Laws were a deeply divisive issue in the first half of the nineteenth century. Against the backdrop of a strained post-war economy, Tory Prime Minister Lord Liverpool passed the Corn Laws in 1815. These laws placed tariffs on cereal grain imported from other countries such as wheat and maize to favour domestic agriculture. The price of grain had to reach 80 shillings a quarter, or near famine inducing levels, before foreign imports would be allowed . Objections to the Corn Laws from all levels of society were evident from the moment they were enacted. On 20th March 1815, at the third reading of the Bill in the House of Lords, a formal protest was entered by eleven peers, including two members of the Royal Family: the Duke of Sussex and the Duke of Gloucester. Despite intense and mounting opposition for decades, the Corn Laws were not repealed until 1846" (Dr. Katie Carpenter at committees[dot]parliament.uk).…