An Essay on the Principle of Population; or, a View of its Past and Present Effects on Human Happiness; With an Inquiry into Our Prospects Respecting the Future Removal or Mitigation of the Evils which it Occasions - 1803

London: Printed for J. Johnson... by T. Bensley..., 1803.. Second edition, or "A New Edition, Very Much Enlarged". 4to. viii, (iv), 610 pp. 19th century half speckled calf over marbled boards, gilt rules to the spine, gilt lettered green label, all edges marbled. Binding expertly resewn and the joints neatly repaired, occasional foxing, mostly mild, an attractive copy. First published anonymously in 1798, Malthus drew upon the works of Hume and Smith amongst others to explain his conservative conception of population control. "The central idea of the essay... was a simple one. The population of a community... increases geometrically, while food supplies increase only arithmetically... The 'Essay' was highly influential in the progress of thought in early 19th century Europe... [it] came at the right time to harden the existing feeling against the Poor Laws" - Printing and the Mind of Man, 251. Citing examples from other societies and sources not hitherto known to him, Malthus rewrote and extended his essay significantly enough for him to consider this an entirely "new work" in his introduction to this edition. He expanded and refined his theory of positive checks on population growth (those that increase the death rate) and negative ones (those that inhibit birth rates), slightly softening his tone by arguing for greater moral restraint as opposed to the bleaker and cruder mechanisms of hunger, disease and war to keep population numbers down and, therefore, keep overall prosperity up. Despite being hugely influential in economic and philosophical terms, Malthus has always been a divisive figure and his arguments remain controversial to this day.