Books

Washington City: Roger Chew Weightman, 1809. 2 volumes, 8vo. (8 1/4 x 5 inches). [Vol. 1] xvi, 510, xxxiv pp.; [Vol. 2] vii, 542 pp. Contemporary full tree calf, skilfully rebacked. Spines gilt ruled forming six compartments, lettering pieces in the second compartmenrs Provenance: Possibly John Barclay (1749-1824), former Mayor of Philadelphia from 1791 to 1793 First American edition of a fundamental text of Modern Economics. Thomas Robert Malthus was an English economist, cleric, and scholar influential in the fields of political economy and demography. Malthus came to prominence for his publication of the present work, first published in 1798. Between 1798 and 1826, Malthus published six versions of the essay, updating each edition to incorporate new material, to address criticism, and to convey changes in his own perspectives on the subject. Writing in response to Jean-Jacques Rousseau and William Godwin, specifically their approaches to the improvement of society, Malthus…

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.