GREAT BRITAIN. CENSUS

Abstract of the answers and returns made pursuant to an act, passed in the forty-first year of his majesty King George III. Intituled "An act for taking an account of the population of Great Britain, and the increase or diminution thereof. [Vol. I:] Parish Registers [vol. II:] -- Enumeration

London: Ordered to be printed 21 December 1801; 9th June 1802 (Luke Hansard, printer), 1801--2.
2 volumes folio: vol. I, Parish Registers: [pi]2 B--6A2, 232 leaves, pp. [4] 459 [1] (last page blank); vol. II, Enumeration: [pi]--3[pi]2 (-- 3[pi]1 or 2) B--6M2 [chi]1 6O--6Z2, 278 leaves, pp. [10] 503 [3] 509--547 [1] (last page blank). Leaf size and condition: 335 x 210mm, untrimmed. Binding: Original blue paper boards with buff spines, printed paper spine labels. Paper on spines defective, labels intact, joints cracked but sound, in a cloth folding case. Provenance and annotation: Engraved bookplate of Charles Thellusson, see below. References:
First edition. Some copies (e.g. the Banks and Greville copies in the British Library) have John Rickman, Observations on the results of the population act (folio, pp. 13, London, 1802) bound in, but this copy in original boards suggests that the Observations were not originally issued with the census.
§ The first British census, the first detailed census of any country ever undertaken. Though preceded by the first American census of 1790, that enumeration recorded only colour (free or slave for blacks) and gender (for whites only, and adulthood for males only). The British census, on the other hand, was drawn up to give a complete economic picture of the nation, together with a demographic history of the previous century from the Parish Registers. The published returns tabulate houses, giving the number of families in each and the number uninhabited; gender; and occupations. The tabulations from the Parish Registers give baptisms, burials and marriages from 1700 to 1800. The principle of the census had been proposed by John Rickman (1771--1840) in an article in the Commercial, Agricultural, and Manufacturer's Magazine (which he edited) in 1796. The Secretary to the Treasury, George Rose, noticed the article and in 1800 the Census Act, drafted by Rickman , was presented to parliament. Rickman then directed the census and was responsible for digesting and annotating the data presented in these volumes. He also oversaw the next three censuses, in 1811, 1821 and 1831, and was employed on the bill for the 1841 census before his death. The study of population was one of the major concerns of political economy at this time and the first census came at a crucial point in the debate. Malthus' Essay on population was published in 1798, when his demographic knowledge was necessarily limited. After the results of the first census were known, he extensively re-wrote the Essay, incorporating insights gained from the census and other sources, and published it in 1803, and his Principles of political economy in 1820. The owner of this copy, Charles Thellusson, was the third son of the wealthy merchant Peter Thelluson, famous for his will which left the greater part of his estate in trust to his great grandsons. It was feared that the accumulated sum could reach £140m and destabilise the nation; as a result an act was passed in 1800 to prevent such wills being made in the future. Charles' brother George founded a banking house in Paris where Necker began his career as a clerk, later becoming a junior partner. <<In 1798 Malthus's demographic knowledge was very limited. The census of 1801 showed that he was substantially in error both as to the size of the population at the time and as to its rate of growth. He supposed the population of Britain to be about 7 millions when it was in fact 56 per cent larger at 10.9 millions, and he believed it safe to assume that it had increased only modestly since the revolution of 1688. In fact the English population had been increasing rapidly since the 1740s and the rate of growth was accelerating steadily, reaching the highest level it was ever to attain in the quarter century following the publication of the first Essay. The evidence of the first and subsequent censuses obliged Malthus to rethink his initial assumptions extensively. >>T. A. Wrigley, 'Introduction', The Works of Thomas Robert Malthus (London, 1986), vol. I, p. 22.

• GBP 1,600.00 > otras divisas
• nº de pedido: 13081

• librero: Roger Gaskell (GREAT BRITAIN)