On Liberty.

£7,500 · Offered by Shapero Rare Books

with tipped-in autograph note on House of Commons paper The first edition of Mill's great essay on liberty and the duty owed by fellow man. With a tipped-in autograph note on House of Commons blind-stamped paper written during Mill's (1806-1873) brief tenure as Member of Parliament for Westminster from 1865 until 1868. In it 'Mr J.S. Mill presents his compliments to the Chairman of the Committee of Selection, and having attained the age of sixty on the 28th of May last, solicits to be exempted from serving on election committees. June 18, 1866'. Widely considered a masterpiece of nineteenth-century political thought, the present work, On Liberty, brought up to date the Benthamite utilitarianism of Mill's precursors, introducing the key, defining principle that the 'greatest happiness' of society cannot be achieved at the expense of individual liberty. The 'sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection... the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilised community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others' (pp21-22). On Liberty was written during the 8 years of Mill's happy marriage to the women's rights activist Harriet Taylor Mill, who died shortly before the book's publication in 1859. The work is movingly dedicated to her memory as 'the inspirer, and in part the author, of all that is best in my writings' (dedication

• Binding: Hardcover

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