A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy.

First UK edition. 8vo. 264 pp., frontispiece portrait of Marx. Original red cloth, spine lettered and ruled in gilt, dust jacket (extremities slightly worn, spine panel faintly toned, notwithstanding a good copy). London, Lawrence & Wishart. 

The second English translation of Marx's A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, the 'germ' of Das Kapital and Marx's first attempt at a general statement of his economic theory, originally published in German in 1859. The 'Contrbitution' represented the first major Marxist contribution to the interpretation of history and political economy and Marx himself described Das Kapital as a continuation of the ideas set forth in this earlier work (PMM). It has been widely overshadowed by the monumental influence of Kapital and as such translations of the work appeared relatively late, with the first English translation being published as late as 1904.

The present new English translation includes a substantial introduction by the Cambridge economist Maurice Dobb, who also edited the translation by S.W. Ryazanskaya. It was originally published in Moscow by Progress Publishers the previous year.

Stock Code: 245248