The Economic Consequences of the Peace.

London: Macmillan and Co., Limited,, 1919. Keynes as prophet First edition, first impression, of Keynes's second book, which established his reputation as a political economist. Keynes's biographer called the book "one of the most influential books of the twentieth century" (Skidelsky, p. 384). The book comes from the library of the English novelist Alex Raban Waugh (1898-1981), with his bookplate on the front pastedown. Keynes resigned from his position as principal representative of the British Treasury at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, in protest of the heavy reparations demanded from Germany. The Economic Consequences of the Peace was written directly afterwards as a condemnation of Allied policy: Keynes would continue arguing against the reparations in his 1922 book, A Revision of the Treaty. "The violence of the controversy aroused by these two books is now difficult to appreciate. Even while they were being written many of his prophecies came true and, in the light of the subsequent history, the foresight of his conclusions would be uncanny did they not proceed so inevitably from his premises" (PMM). Keynes's view, that the Treaty of Versailles was fundamentally unjust and threatened the peace and security of Europe, remains widely shared to this day. The brother of Evelyn Waugh, Alex Raban Waugh had a successful career as an author, publishing many works from 1917 to 1978 including poetry, novels, and short stories, as well as books on wine. He served at Passchendaele in the First World War, was captured by the Germans in March 1918, and spent the remainder of the conflict in prisoner-of-war camps in Karlsruhe and in the Mainz Citadel. Octavo. Original blue cloth, spine lettered in gilt. Spine sunned, rubbed at extremities, contents a little toned. A very good copy. Fundaburk 9981; Mattioli 1807; Moggridge A 2.1.1; Printing and the Mind of Man 423. Robert Skidelsky, John Maynard Keynes: Hopes Betrayed, 1983.