How to Pay for the War. A Radical Plan for the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

First edition. First impression and uncorrected version, published some months before the corrected edition issued in pale orange printed covers. Sm. 8vo. vii, [1, blank], 88 pp., appendices. Publisher's stiff blue-green paper boards, printed in black; double-ruled borders. "PRICE 1/-NET" on front. With a four-page preface by Keynes. Printed by Purnell and Sons. Macmillan's proposed initial print run of 5,000 copies much annoyed Keynes who countered that even his most "highbrow" books on economics published with "vastly less advance publicity" sold more than that. In response, Macmillan raised its printing order to 11,500, followed by a reprint of 15,000 copies on publication.

Very Good, in slightly rubbed boards, lightly soiled; spine browned with lengthwise crease.

Keynes's most successful "essay in persuasion", offering the seeds of a theory of inflation to complement his "depression economics" of the General Theory of Employment. A classic examination of how British fiscal policy should be altered in order to reconcile the demands of World War II and the claims of private consumption. It identifies the "inflationary gap", promoting the ideas of "compulsory saving" and "rationing" to prevent price inflation, proposals adopted in 1941.

[Moggridge C11.1; Macmillan: A Publishing Tradition, 1843–1970, p. 218–229; DSB. Vol. 7, p. 316–319]