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First US edition, second printing, presentation copy, inscribed to the free-market economist Percy L. Greaves Jr. on the title page: "With the regards of the author F. A. Hayek". Copies signed by Hayek are extremely rare: presentation copies are rarer still. Percy L. Greaves (1906-1984), who also signed the front free endpaper, was, like Hayek, a lifelong advocate of free market economics. Greaves, an economic correspondent for the US News, shared with Hayek a mentor in Ludwig von Mises. Greaves attended von Mises's seminars at New York University from 1950-69, much as Hayek had done in the 1920s. In 1944, Greaves was the director of research for the Republican National Committee, while Hayek was lecturing at the London School of Economics. The Road to Serfdom, a seminal, ground-breaking polemic against centralization and collectivism, is "far and away the most eloquent and straightforward statement of his political and economic outlook that Hayek ever achieved" (ODNB). The thesis holds that the tendency of governments is to expand in power and influence, especially if governments base their policies on Keynesian or socialist principles, which both hold government intervention to be positive. Unless this expansion is checked by an intellectual alternative which prioritizes personal and economic liberty, the endpoint will be absolute government tyranny. The book was first published in London in March 1944. The first US edition followed in September, and First US edition, second printing, presentation copy, inscribed to the free-market economist Percy L. Greaves Jr. on the title page: "With the regards of the author F. A. Hayek". Copies signed by Hayek are extremely rare: presentation copies are rarer still. Percy L. Greaves (1906-1984), who also signed the front free endpaper, was, like Hayek, a lifelong advocate of free market economics. Greaves, an economic correspondent for the US News, shared with Hayek a mentor in Ludwig von Mises. Greaves attended von Mises's seminars at New York University from 1950-69, much as Hayek had done in the 1920s. In 1944, Greaves was the director of research for the Republican National Committee, while Hayek was lecturing at the London School of Economics. The Road to Serfdom, a seminal, ground-breaking polemic against centralization and collectivism, is "far and away the most eloquent and straightforward statement of his political and economic outlook that Hayek ever achieved" (ODNB). The thesis holds that the tendency of governments is to expand in power and influence, especially if governments base their policies on Keynesian or socialist principles, which both hold government intervention to be positive. Unless this expansion is checked by an intellectual alternative which prioritizes personal and economic liberty, the endpoint will be absolute government tyranny. The book was first published in London in March 1944. The first US edition followed in September, and this second printing appeared in October. Greaves's ink library stamps are present on the front free endpaper and the title page, while the latter is embossed with his library stamp. READ MORE Octavo. Original blue cloth, dust jacket librafilmed onto boards and secured with linen tape at edges, spine lettered in gilt with chain design continuing vertically in gilt, top edge red. Woodcut vignette to title page. Clipping from December 1946 edition of Herald Tribune stapled to verso of contents page. Extensive ink and pencil underlining and annotations throughout. Light bumping and rubbing, minor browning and foxing to endpapers and outer leaves; extensive sunning and tearing to unclipped jacket, affecting text, tear to rear panel fold neatly repaired with tape, faint toning to librafilm: a well-read copy, much compensated for by the pleasing association. Cody & Ostrem B6.

"The Road to Serfdom," written by Friedrich Hayek in 1944, is a seminal text that critiques centralized economic planning and collectivism. Hayek argues that state control over the economy inevitably leads to a loss of personal freedoms and the rise of authoritarianism. He emphasizes the importance of free markets and individual liberty as essential defenses against the encroachment of totalitarian rule. The book remains a powerful discourse on the relationship between economic systems and political freedom, warning of the dangers of surrendering too much power to the state.