A Dissertation on the Numbers of Mankind in antient and modern Times: in which The superior Populousness of Antiquity is maintained. With An Appendix, Containing Additional Observations on the same Subject, And Some Remarks on Mr. Hume's Political Discourse, Of the Populousness of antient Nations.

WALLACE, Robert.

Edité par Edinburgh: for G. Hamilton and J. Balfour, 1753

A propos de cet article

First edition, an important influence on the demographic work of both David Hume and Thomas Malthus. Robert Wallace (1697-1771) was an interesting figure in the Scottish Enlightenment, a founding member of the Rankenian Club during his university days and also active in the Philosophical and Select societies. His elaborate history of population was based on the extensive research in ancient history that he had originally presented to the Philosophical Society some time before 1745. Wallace opened his argument with a hypothetical model for the geometrical rate of world population growth, indicating that present world population was far below its potential. As Wallace was completing work on the Dissertation in 1751 he showed it to fellow Philosophical Society member David Hume, who reciprocated with the essay he published in the Political Discourses of 1752: "Of the populousness of ancient nations". Hume argued that population estimates in ancient sources were unlikely to be as accurate as modern assessments, but he graciously acknowledged his debt to Wallace, to which Wallace replied in the lengthy appendix here. "This polite exchange was widely celebrated as a model for the pursuit of truth in an enlightened age. Montesquieu supervised the translation of both works into French. In the Confessions Rousseau acknowledged the spirit of the debate, praising Hume in particular for having helped edit Wallace's text" (ODNB). Wallace's emphasis on the geometrical rate of population growth was a direct influence on Thomas Malthus's population calculus in the Essay on the Principle of Population. Hazlitt, in The Spirit of the Age, asserted that "both the principle of the necessary increase of the population beyond the means of subsistence, and the application of that principle as a final obstacle to all Utopian perfectibility schemes, are borrowed by Mr. Malthus from Wallace's work". In the preface to the second edition of the Essay, Malthus names Wallace among the four authors who led him to the population question. This copy has an interesting political provenance, with the bookplate of John Bond (1823-1828). Bond was from a long-established Dorset parliamentary family, and was Member for Corfe Castle. Goldsmiths' 8782; Higgs 619; Kress 5318; ESTC T145322. Octavo (250 x 125 mm). Contemporary calf, titles gilt to brown morocco title label to spine, ruled in gilt, raised bands to spine, compartments ruled gilt, double gilt rules to boards, edges sprinkled red. Bookplate of John Bond Grange to front pastedown. Small loss to head of spine, front joint cracked but firm, slight wear to extremities, tips bumped, internally bright, a little browning to edges of endpapers, some light creases from binding to prelims, occasional trivial offsetting, clean, fresh, and free from foxing. A very good copy indeed.

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Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: A Dissertation on the Numbers of Mankind in antient and modern Times: in which The superior Populousness of Antiquity is maintained. With An Appendix, Containing Additional Observations on the same Subject, And Some Remarks on Mr. Hume's Political Discourse, Of the Populousness of antient Nations.
• Éditeur: Edinburgh: for G. Hamilton and J. Balfour, 1753
• Édition: Edition originale