BENTHAM, Jeremy (1748-1832). Defence of Usury; Shewing the Impolicy of the Present Legal Restraints on the Terms of Pecuniary Bargains. ... To which is added, a Letter to Adam Smith, London, 1787, 8vo, contemporary half calf. FIRST EDITION.

BENTHAM, Jeremy (1748-1832).  Defence of Usury; Shewing the Impolicy of the Present Legal Restraints on the Terms of Pecuniary Bargains. In a Series of Letters to a Friend. To which is added, a Letter to Adam Smith, Esq; LL.D. On the Discouragements opposed by the above Restraints to the Progress of Inventive Industry. London: "Printed for T. Payne, and Son, at the Mews-Gate," 1787. 8vo (157 x 98mm). (Staining at corners of title, title very lightly browned, some light spotting and staining to the corners of the final contents leaf.) Contemporary half calf and marbled boards, spine gilt with red morocco lettering-piece (joints and corners rubbed, bumped). Provenance: CHARLES PRATT, THE 1ST EARL CAMDEN, LORD CHANCELLOR (1714-94, old armorial bookplate, see DNB); George Goyder (modern armorial bookplate). FIRST EDITION of the author's first and most celebrated work on economics which expanded on, and criticised, the work of Adam Smith; with a noteworthy provenance. "In August 1785 Bentham quitted England in order to visit his brother Samuel ... who was in the service of the Russian government. He carried on his studies in jurisprudence, and he sent home, in the form of letters to a friend, Mr. Wilson, his celebrated 'Defence of Usury,' in which he established the principle, then novel, that no man of ripe years, of sound mind, acting freely and with his eyes open, ought to be hindered, with a view to his advantage, from making such bargain in the way of obtaining money as he thinks fit" (DNB). Goldsmiths' 13428; Kress B1163.