“MUCH THAT HAS BEEN BLAMED ON THE CAPITALIST SYSTEM IS IN FACT DUE TO REMNANTS OR REVIVALS OF PRECAPITALISTIC FEATURES”

HAYEK, Friedrich A. Capitalism and the Historians. (London): Rouledge & Kegan Paul, (1954). Octavo, original blue paper boards, original dust jacket. $450.

First edition of this collection of essays arguing that early capitalism in 19th-century Britain was better for workers, both financially and socially, than the period prior to the Industrial Revolution, edited and with an introduction by Friedrich Hayek.

This collection of essays by Ashton, Jacker, de Jouvenel and Hutt, edited by Hayek, strives to prove that the vast majority of historical criticism about the Industrial Revolution and its impact on workers was fundamentally flawed. In his introduction Hayek points out that the general misery of a bad crop yield may have been easier to tolerate emotionally than the individual injustice of a single worker cast aside by an impersonal system. Here, the authors argue that capitalism actually provided workers with greater opportunity and financial stability than they had experienced under the previous system. Together, these essays take a broader view of capitalism and examine the plight of workers as a group, ultimately showing the Industrial Revolution as having a very positive social benefit, even for the poor.

Book very nearly fine, price-clipped dust jacket extremely good with a few tiny spots of soiling and a bit of rubbing and toning to extremities.