Malthus, Thomas An Essay on the Principle of Population or, a View of its Past and Present Effects on Human Happiness ... A New Edition, very much enlarged. London: for J. Johnson, by T. Bensley, 1803. 4to (26.9 x 21cm), near-contemporary dark green straight-grain half roan, pebble-grain cloth sides, pp. viii [4] 610, spine and corners rubbed, variable spotting, closed tear to upper inner corner of 3A1, small chip to head of 4D2, neither affecting text, old manuscript library label to front pastedown [Goldsmiths' 18640; Kress B.4701] Qty: (1) Note: Second edition, though so extensively revised as to be regarded by the author as a substantially new work. Malthus's pioneering treatise was first published anonymously in 1798. In the preface to the second edition he plays down the originality of his central observation that population tends to outrun food supply, claiming to have deduced it from the writings of David Hume, Adam Smith, and others. His findings were strongly criticised by literary contemporaries including Coleridge, Southey, and Cobbett, but Charles Darwin later acknowledged their influence on the development of his theory of natural selection. 'For today's readers, living in a post-Malthus era, the world's population problems are well known and serious, but no longer sensational. It is difficult therefore to appreciate the radical and controversial impact made by the Essay at the time of publication. It challenged the conventional notion that population growth is an unmixed blessing. It discussed prostitution, contraception, and other sexual matters. And it gave vivid descriptions of the horrendous consequences of overpopulation and of the brutal means by which populations are checked' (ODNB). All proceeds from the sale of this lot are to go to Oxfam UK.