Descrizione

First Edition, 4to, xxxvi, 227, [1]pp., 22 lithograph plates, [Malthus essay running from page 171-180]; orig. boards, covers detached, lacks spine, uncut, unopened, internally a nice clean copy. Malthusís first essay to the Royal Society of Literature in which he explains his theory of the source or cause of exchangeable value. As Patricia James in her biography of Malthus explains ëAnyone wishing to understand Malthusís doctrine that the of a commodity is composed of labour and profit, these short essays can be recommended for their comparative simplicity. As is often the case, enlightenment comes from a footnote - in this instance, at the beginning of the first paper (with Malthusís italics):- ìThe natural and necessary conditions of the supply of commodities are precisely the same as the natural and necessary costs of production, when reduced to the simplest elements; but I have preferred the former expression, because the term cost, if not well guarded, is too apt to convey the idea of Money expenditure.îí The second paper On the Meaning which is most usually and most correctly attached to the term ëValue of a Commodityí was read two years later on the 7th November 1827.