# Is "On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation" by David Ricardo a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation by David Ricardo (John Murray, London, 1817) is identified by: London: John Murray, Albemarle-Street, 1817. No precedence question: Ricardo wrote in English and Murray's London octavo of 1817 is the true first; the French translation (Constancio, with Say's notes) and all continental versions are later.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- London: John Murray, Albemarle-Street, 1817
- Octavo (approx
- 209 x 124-128 mm), collating viii, 589, [14] pp.; the terminal unnumbered leaves carry the index, with publisher's advertisements bound in at the end in some copies only
- 750 copies were printed; publication date 19 April 1817
- Identification is by the title page: the first edition carries no edition statement, whereas the second (Murray, 27 February 1819, 1,000 copies) and third (Murray, May 1821, 1,000 copies) are so designated — the second contained only trifling alterations, the third considerably more extensive ones
- Expected dress is contemporary or later calf or half calf with a gilt-panelled spine and a morocco label; no number line, printed price or dust jacket applies to the period
- Publisher imprint reads John Murray, London

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | David Ricardo |
| Publisher | John Murray, London |
| Year | 1817 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | London: John Murray, Albemarle-Street, 1817 |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
London: John Murray, Albemarle-Street, 1817. Octavo (approx. 209 x 124-128 mm), collating viii, 589, [14] pp.; the terminal unnumbered leaves carry the index, with publisher's advertisements bound in at the end in some copies only. 750 copies were printed; publication date 19 April 1817. Identification is by the title page: the first edition carries no edition statement, whereas the second (Murray, 27 February 1819, 1,000 copies) and third (Murray, May 1821, 1,000 copies) are so designated — the second contained only trifling alterations, the third considerably more extensive ones. Expected dress is contemporary or later calf or half calf with a gilt-panelled spine and a morocco label; no number line, printed price or dust jacket applies to the period. References: Printing and the Mind of Man 277; Goldsmiths 21734; Kress B7029. The standard textual collation of the three lifetime editions is Piero Sraffa's, in The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo, vol. 1 (Cambridge, 1951).

## Is this the true first?
No precedence question: Ricardo wrote in English and Murray's London octavo of 1817 is the true first; the French translation (Constancio, with Say's notes) and all continental versions are later. The census hypothesis that the first edition has 'first-issue points in the advertisements and errata' is NOT supported and must not be used. Bonhams's cataloguing states that copies come 'without publisher's advertisements at end as usual,' so presence or absence of the terminal ads is not a reliable point of issue, and no errata leaf is described in any of the catalogue records examined. Identification rests on the 1817 date, the Murray Albemarle-Street imprint, the absence of an edition statement, and the viii, 589, [14] collation.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue exists for an 1817 imprint. The traps are the 1819 second and 1821 third editions, both labelled on the title page and both from Murray, and the modern scholarly and reprint editions — Sraffa's Cambridge text (1951 and later), Everyman/Dent and Cambridge paperback printings, and print-on-demand facsimiles — all of which carry modern imprints, machine-made paper and, from the 1970s, ISBNs.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation* by David Ricardo a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/on-the-principles-of-political-economy-and-taxation
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.