£300
8vo, pp. viii, 299, [1]. Interleaved with blanks throughout. Modern quarter tan calf, marbled boards, red morocco label, spine divided by double blind rules, other compartments tooled in blind to centre, marbled edges. A little light spotting.
The second edition of Mill's economic text, following the first two years earlier. A Scot by birth, James Mill (1773-1836) moved to London as a young man and published his History of British India in three volumes in 1818. His thoughts on politics and economics were influenced by his friendships with Jeremy Bentham and David Ricardo, and the book owes its existence to the notes taken by Mill's son, the philosopher John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), as its genesis lies in the elder Mill's lessons. In his autobiography, John Stuart Mill states, 'He expounded each day a portion of the subject, and I gave him next day a written account of it, which he made me rewrite over and over again until it was clear, precise, and tolerably complete. [...] and the written outline of it which resulted from my daily compte rendu served him afterwards as notes from which to write his Elements of Political Economy.'
This copy is interleaved throughout with contemporary blank paper; having gone to this trouble the book's owner then neglected to make any annotations at all.
