Books

Hamburg: Otto Meissner, 1885. 8vo. Very nice contemporary black half calf with gilt spine. A bit of wear to extremitoes. Inner front hinge a little weak. Title-page a littel dusty, but otherwise very nice and clean. Book-plate (Arnold Heertje) to inside of front board. XXVII, (1), 526 pp. + 1 f. With pp. 515-16 in the first state ("Consumtionsfonds" with a C) and with the imprint-leaf at the end. Scarce first edition of the second volume of "The Capital", edited from Marx's manuscripts by Friedrich Engels and with a 20 pages long preface by Engels. The second volume constitutes a work in its own right and is also known under the subtitle "The Process of Circulation of Capital ". Although this work has often been to as referred to as "the forgotten book" of Capital or "the unknown volume", it was in fact also extremely influential and highly important - it is here that Marx introduces his "Schemes of Reproduction", here that he founds his particular macroeconomics, and here that he so famously distinguishes two "departments" of production: those producing means of production and those producing means of consumption - "This very division, as well as the analysis of the relations between these departments, is one of the enduring achievements of Marx's work." (Christopher J. Arthur and Geert Reuten : The Circulation of Capital. Essays on Volume Two of Marx's Capital. P. 7).The work is divided into three parts: The Metamorphoses of Capital and Their Circuits, The Turnover of Capital, The Reproduction and Circulation of the Aggregate Social Capital, and it is here that we find the main ideas behind the marketplace - how value and surplus-value are realized. Here, as opposed to volume 1 of "The Capital", the focus is on the money-owner and -lender, the wholesale-merchant, the trader and the entrepreneur, i.e. the "functioning capitalist", rather than worker and the industrialist. "[i]t was here, in the final part of this book [i.e. vol. II of Das Kapital], that Marx introduced his "Schemes of Reproduction", which influenced both Marxian and orthodox economics in the first decades of the twentieth century." (Arthur & Reuten p. 1).The first volume of "Das Kapital" was the only one to appear within Marx' life-time. It appeared 1867, followed by this second volume 18 years later, which Engels prepared from notes left by Karl Marx.

"Das Kapital," written by Karl Marx, is a seminal work critiquing the capitalist system's foundations and mechanisms. Published in 1867, this extensive analysis of capitalism delves into its economic processes, the exploitation inherent within, and its eventual contradictions which Marx believed would lead to its downfall. Marx introduces key concepts such as commodity, value, surplus value, and the labor theory of value, arguing that the value of a commodity is determined by the labor required for its production. He criticizes how capitalists profit by exploiting workers, paying them less than the value of their labor while selling the products for their full value. Marx's critique extends to the dynamics of capital accumulation, technological advancements, and their effects on the proletariat, predicting increasing capital centralization and crises stemming from capitalism's internal contradictions. "Das Kapital" covers the circulation and distribution of capital, explaining how surplus value is divided among different classes and sectors, leading to cycles of boom and bust. Despite its influence, "Das Kapital" has faced criticism for its total failure in economic predictions, such as the underestimation of capitalism's adaptability and the overemphasis on the labor theory of value. Critics argue Marx's predictions of escalating class struggle and the proletariat revolution have not materialized as expected, questioning his views on human nature and the efficiency of market mechanisms. Nonetheless, "Das Kapital" remains a pivotal work in economic and political thought, offering a deep, if wrong, critique of capitalism and its socio-economic impacts.