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 theevils which it occasions.
London, T. Bensley for J. Johnson, 1806
'The central idea of the essay -- and the hub of Malthusian theory -- was a simple one. The population of a community, Malthus, suggested, increases geometrically, while food supplies increased 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. The Essay was highly influential in the progress of thought in early nineteenth-century Europe' (PMM).
'His work was an important influence on both Darwin and Wallace in their formulation of the concept of natural selection. It also had a profound influence on the decrease in size of families down to the present time' (Garrison-Morton).
Third edition, 2 vols, 8vo, xvi, 501, [63]; vii, 559 pp., contemporary tree calf gilt, red morocco labels, some pale foxing, a very good set.
Garrison-Morton 1693; Goldsmiths' 19210; Kress B5067; Cf. PMM 251.
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