ABSTRACT
Historians of classical economic thought have awaited variorum editions of T.R.Malthus’s major works-the Essay on the Principle of Population and the Principles of Political Economy-with increasing impatience; Adam Smith, David Ricardo, and J.S.Mill have been splendidly served, but not Malthus. Anyone who has worked with the essay knows the frustration of having to isolate variations across six editions published during the author’s lifetime: 1798, 1803, 1806, 1807, 1817 and 1826. The eight-volume Works of Thomas Robert Malthus-the published works excluding correspondence and travel diaries-provides only a half-way house for the researcher as for as the essay is concerned.
