Books

[Demography] FIRST TWO VOLUME EDITION. Octavos (22 x 14 x 8cm), pp.xvi; 505; [63], pp.viii; 559; [1]. Brown half calf, marbled paper over boards. Gilt ruling and red labels containing gilt titles to spines. All edges speckled blue. Interior relatively bright and clean, a few leaves spotted/marked. Infrequent pencil annotations throughout each volume. Small ownership inscription in both volumes to a front, blank leaf. Toning to corners of all endpapers. Marbled boards rubbed, some wear to calf spines and extremities. Very good. Rev. Thomas Robert Malthus, FRS (1766 1834), known as Thomas Malthus or Robert Malthus (his preference), was an English demographer and political economist. He is best known for his pessimistic but highly influential views on population growth. In 'An Essay on the Principle of Population' (1798) Malthus made the famous prediction that population would outrun food supply, leading to a decrease in food per person.

The book addresses the relationship between population growth and food supply. Malthus argued that population tends to grow exponentially, while food production increases only arithmetically, meaning that population growth would eventually outpace the ability to produce enough food. He suggested that without checks, such as famine, disease, or war, overpopulation would lead to widespread poverty and suffering. Malthus identified two types of checks on population growth: "positive checks," which raise the death rate (such as famine and disease), and "preventive checks," which reduce the birth rate (such as moral restraint, later marriage, or celibacy). He believed that without preventive measures, human misery was inevitable. Malthus’s work had a lasting influence on economic and demographic theories, and his ideas about population pressure also influenced Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection. Although some of his predictions were mitigated by technological advances in agriculture, his work remains important in discussions of overpopulation and resource sustainability.