Books

First edition of the greatest manifesto of liberty and individualism, advocating the complete freedom of the individual save where necessarily restricted to prevent harm, and establishing the personal rights of the individual which neither government nor a democratic majority can overrule. On Liberty "has been viewed by posterity as the kernel of [Mill's] social philosophy" (ODNB). "Many of Mill's ideas are now the commonplaces of democracy. His arguments for freedom of every kind of thought and speech have never been improved on. He was the first to recognize the tendency of a democratically elected majority to tyrannize over a minority" (PMM). Octavo. Original purple vertical-ribbed cloth, spine lettered in gilt, covers with borders blocked in blind, red endpapers. With 16 pp. publisher's advertisements tipped-in at rear. Contemporary ownership signature at head of title page. Spine ends professionally repaired, short tear at head of title repaired, a very good copy. Hazlitt, The Free Man's Library, p. 116; MacMinn, Hands & McCrimmon, p. 92; Printing and the Mind of Man 345.