Value and Capital.: An inquiry into some fundamental principles of economic theory.

Oxford: At the Clarendon Press,, 1939. First edition, first impression, of the author's most significant book: "in the field of pure theory... probably the most influential book in the first half of the 20th century" (Niehans, p. 359). An incisive study of value theory, "The book's extraordinary influence was due to the timely synthesis it offered. The general equilibrium of Walras, Pareto's ordinal utility, and Slutsky's analysis of comparative-static effects were all integrated with post-Wicksellian dynamics, Keynesian microstatics, and a capital theory along the lines of Bohm-Bawerk. By combining all these elements into a unified theoretical apparatus, Value and Capital provided the springboard from which the brilliant theorists of the next generation would jump off... Overall, Hicks will probably appear in the history of economics as the greatest British theorist of the century" (ibid., pp. 359 & 371). Provenance: J. W. S. Walton, who matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxford in 1947, and latterly worked as an economic associate of the Central Statistical Office, London, with his signature on the front free endpaper. Octavo. Original blue cloth, spine lettered and with publisher's device in gilt. Graphs in the text. Ownership signature of one "Henry Palia 8.11.39" to front pastedown. Infrequent pencil underlining and annotations, colour underlining to one graph. Light rubbing, bumping, and sunning, cracking to inner hinges, browning to endpapers: a good copy. Jürg Niehans, A History of Economic Theory: Classic Contributions, 1720-1980, 1994.