Landmark Books in All Fields
ItemID: #124381
Cost: $7,500.00

On Liberty

John Stuart Mill

"THE GREATEST GOOD OF THE COMMUNITY IS INSEPARABLE FROM THE LIBERTY OF THE INDIVIDUAL": FIRST EDITION OF JOHN STUART MILL'S CLASSIC ON LIBERTY, 1859

MILL, John Stuart. On Liberty. London: John W. Parker and Son, 1859. Octavo, original blind-stamped brown cloth rebacked with original spine laid down. Housed in a custom chemise and leather slipcase. $7500.

First edition of Mill's most famous work—"the final stage in the growth of Utilitarian doctrine… His arguments for freedom of every kind of thought or speech have never been improved on" (PMM), in original cloth.

"Mill realized that the 'greatest good' of the community is inseparable from the liberty of the individual. Hitherto, liberty had always been considered relative, in relation to tyranny or oppression: Mill extended tyranny to include a custom-ridden majority, and declared that 'the sole end for which mankind is justified in interfering with liberty of action is self-protection… Many of Mill's ideas are now the commonplaces of democracy. His arguments for freedom of every kind of thought or speech have never been improved on. He was the first to recognize the tendency of a democratically elected majority to tyrannize over a minority… Mill's On Liberty remains his most widely read book. It represents the final stage in the growth of Utilitarian doctrine" (PMM 345). "On Liberty is regarded as one of the finest expressions of 19th-century liberalism" (Baugh, 1323). With four-page publisher's catalog bound in at rear. Occasional mispagination as issued without loss of text. Owner stamp. Scattered marginal pencil markings.

Faint foxing to preliminary and concluding pages, slight soiling and a bit of toning to original cloth, spine leaning slightly. An extremely good copy.

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