Principles of Political Economy: with some their applications to social philosophy. In two volumes. Third edition.

London: John W. Parker and Son,, 1852. Third edition, extensively revised from the first of 1848, of Mill's great treatise on political economy. "From the moment of publication, Mill's Principles was hailed as a classic, far more congenial to the public than earlier economic textbooks" (ODNB); "To many generations of students, Mill's Principles was the undisputed bible of economic doctrine" (Roll, p. 353). Mill brought together existing trends of economics - Say's law, the Malthusian population principle, the Ricardian theory of rent, the quantity theory of money - into a coherent statement of economic principles, written in a powerful literary prose which made the work far more readable than previous and later economic textbooks, and accounts for its great success. Seven editions appeared by 1871, and it was adopted as a classroom textbook well into the 20th century. It has been called "the last great statement of classical economic theory" (Dictionary of British Economists). "The present edition has been revised throughout, and several chapters either materially added to or entirely re-cast... the chapter on property has been almost entirely re-written... the chapter on the 'Futurity of the Labouring Classes' has been enriched with the results of the experience afforded since this work was first published, by the co-operative associations in France" (preface). Two volumes, octavo. Original green cloth, printed paper labels to spines. 20th-century ownership signatures to front free endpapers. Cloth a little soiled and sunned with a few spots of wear, light toning and spotting to contents. A very good copy. Eric Roll, History of Economic Thought, 1956.