Constitutional Code; for the Use of all Nations and all Governments professing Liberal Opinions.
Vol. I [all published.]
London: Printed for the Author, and published by Robert Heward, 1830 Stock Code: 114170
First edition, all published, of Bentham's Constitutional Code, the only edition published in his lifetime. "The massive, unfinished Constitutional Code, the major work of his final decade, established Bentham as a major theorist of constitutional democracy" (F. Rosen & J. H. Burns, preface to the 1983 Clarendon Press edition, p. xliv). He drafted the Code, aptly subtitled "For the use of All Nations and All Governments professing Liberal Opinions", after receiving a concrete invitation to do so from the Portuguese Cortes, and hoped to see it adopted in Portugal, Greece, and several Latin American countries.
"The publication of the first volume of the Code and Official Aptitude Maximized; Expense Minimized was a relatively small affair. According to some financial accounts Bentham received from Robert Heward, the publisher, fifty copies of the Code were boarded and sewn in 1830 with three copies reported sold in 1830 and ten in 1831" (ibid.. p. xlii).
Description
Octavo. Original fine grain cloth, printed paper spine label, uncut and partly unopened.
Illustrations
With 2 large folding tables, the first, "Constitutional Code", bound in after p. xvi rather than facing p. iii as Chuo states.
Condition
Spine ends and corners lightly rubbed, a couple of tiny chips to fore edges, overall a very good copy.
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