Bentham (Jeremy) Plan of Parliamentary Reform, in the form of a Catechism, first edition, title and peripheral pages spotted, endpapers browned, contemporary half morocco, upper spine joint broken, rubbed, 8vo, for R. Hunter, 1817.*** Scarce first edition of Bentham's important work, in support of parliamentary reform.Written in 1809, the Catechism exemplifies the concern Bentham developed for representative democracy. The author advocates here the holding of annual elections, secret voting, uniform electoral districts, suffrage for all who pay a certain amount of taxes and the exclusion of placemen from the House of Commons. Bentham anonymously offered the paper to William Cobbett for inclusion in the latter's Political Register, though it was declined, and Bentham never forgave Cobbett: the references to him in subsequent writings are scurrilous.