Writing and Revising the Principles (1882–1922)

The first volume of Marshall’s Principles of Economics was published on 18 July 1890. It quickly became a landmark in the literature of economics, on par with Smith’s Wealth of Nations and J.S. Mill’s Principles of Political Economy, books with which it was in fact often compared. Publication of this work was undoubtedly the high point of Marshall’s economic career. It embodied a great deal of his life’s work between its two covers, even when it became a self-standing single volume of economic foundations. For several decades, it was planned as a two-volume work, intended to cover all major elements of economics. This second volume was, however, formally abandoned by the time the sixth edition appeared in 1910. Some reviewers of the first edition had already hinted at this possibility, given the long gestation period of the first volume. This chapter examines both the process of producing and the contents of Marshall’s Principles of Economics, highlighting in particular the many enduring contributions it made to economic analysis and theory.