A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive, Being a Connected View of the Principles of Evidence, and the Methods of Scientific Investigation.

First edition of this classic work on logic. Octavo, original cloth. Accompanied by an autograph letter signed by John Stuart Mill, written to Jeremy Bentham, the founder of utilitarianism. The one-page letter, measuring 3.5 inches by 4.5 inches, reads in full, “My dear Sir, It will give me the greatest pleasure to dine with you tomorrow. On Saturday I am engaged. Yours ever, J.S. Mill. Thursday.” The recipient, Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), was an English philosopher, jurist, and social reformer widely regarded as the founder of modern utilitarianism, the ethical and political theory holding that the rightness of actions and laws should be judged by their tendency to promote the greatest happiness of the greatest number. Written less than a year before Bentham’s death, this brief note reflects the close personal and intellectual bond between the founder of utilitarianism and his most famous successor, uniting on a single page the two central figures of classical utilitarian thought. In fine condition. The piece measures 3.5 inches by 4.5 inches. In very good condition with rubbing and toning. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box made by the Harcourt Bindery. First editions in the original cloth are rare. "The statement that John Stuart Mill was Britain's most important philosopher in the 19th century looks like a bold assertion, but in fact it should not be even mildly controversial… Mill has no serious rivals" (Dictionary of 19th-Century Philosophers II:792). One of Mill's most important works, System of Logic is "the first major installment of his comprehensive restatement of an empiricist and utilitarian position" (Encyclopedia of Philosophy), setting forth "the fundamentals of the human or 'moral' sciences" (Mander & Sell, 794). "The book had a rapid success, beyond the expectations of its author, and was for many years the standard authority with all who took his side in the main philosophical questions. Mill, in fact was recognized as the great leader of the empirical as opposed to what he called the intuitional school; and few men have had a more marked influence upon the rising intellect of the time" (DNB).…