‎RICARDO, D.‎
‎On the Principles of Political Economy, and Taxation. Second edition.‎

‎London, John Murray, 1819. viii, 550, (4, advertisments) pp. 8vo. Contemporary half calf, marbled boards, corners, gilt lettering to spine, extremities shaved, corners bumped, spine rubbed, joints weak, slightly damaged at foot of spine. Kress C.401; Goldsmiths 22322; not in Einaudi; Carpenter XXXVII, (2); McCulloch pp. 16-17; PMM 277 (for the first edition); Mattioli 3016. Second edition, printed in an edition of 1000 copies only, first published in 1817. One of the major classics in the history of political economy. By 1817 Ricardo had become a respected authority through the publication of a number of pamphlets. Urged by James Mill and others to set down a systematic account of his theories, he produced this book. It is based on older and accepted theories of relations between rent, labour and production, but a new emphasis was provided by his theory of distribution. His exact mathematical approach and deductive methods have influenced succeeding generations of economists, especially in the fields of currency and banking. 'Ricardo was, in a sense, the first "scientific economist"' (PMM, p. 168).'The fundamental ground-work of the Principles is based on the theory that, given free competition in trade, the exchange value of commodities will be determined by the amount of labour expended in production: not a wholly original thesis, nor one capable of absolute expression, but one which was given new force by the theory of distribution with which Ricardo reinforced it' (PMM). - Title-page with a short tear in outer blank margin, internally a fresh copy. ‎

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