Beschreibung:

MALTHUS, Thomas Robert (1766-1834)]. An Essay on the Principle of Population, as it Affects the Future Improvement of Society. With Remarks on the Speculations of Mr. Godwin, M. Condorcet, and Other Writers . London: for J. Johnson 1798. 8 o (225 x 140 mm). (Small hole on T3 with loss of four letters, some light spotting.) ORIGINAL BOARDS, UNCUT (rebacked, inner hinges cracked, corners worn); cloth slipcase. Provenance : pencilled marginalia on U4 -- E. Hubert Litchfield (bookplate), sold Parke-Bernet, New York, 3 December 1951, lot 625 -- A.S.W. Rosenbach Collection (card laid-in) -- purchased from John F. Fleming, New York, 14 April 1966. FIRST EDITION OF THIS RARE WORK ON POPULATION GROWTH. "The central idea of the essay--and the hub of the Malthusian theory--was a simple one. The population of a community, Malthus suggested, increases geometrically, while food supplies increase only arithmetically. If the natural increase in population occurs the food supply becomes insufficient and the size of the population is checked by 'misery'--that is the poorest sections of the community suffer disease and famine. Malthus recognized two other possible checks to population expansion: first 'vice'--that is, homosexuality, prostitution and abortion (all totally unacceptable to Malthus); and second 'moral restraint'--the voluntary limitation of the production of children by the postponement of marriage" (PMM). Garrison-Morton 1693; Kress B.3693; Norman 1431; PMM 251. A FINE COPY IN THE ORIGINAL BOARDS.