The Jonathan Masih Collection of Bentham Pamphlets

The Bentham Project has been fortunate enough to acquire a fascinating collection of pamphlets from Dr Jonathan Masih, a collector in the United States with an interest in William Stanley Jevons (1835-82), the economist. The pamphlets were for many years in the possession of the Jevons family, until acquired by Dr Masih in 1975.

At least two of the pamphlets, which carry a stamp dated 1917 from Allahabad University Library, appear to have been acquired by Herbert Stanley Jevons (1875-1955), the son of W.S. Jevons, when he served there as Professor of Economics.

The pamphlets include a very rare copy of the printed 'Preface' for the second edition of Fragment on Government, which at one time belonged to Arthur Moore, Bentham's amanuensis. The most intriguing item is a holograph copy of 'A Protest against Law Taxes', which bears a watermark of 1817, but is in an unknown hand. As yet, we have been unable to link this manuscript volume directly to Bentham.

The pamphlets were acquired through donations from the International Society of Utilitarian Studies and the Bentham Club, and have been deposited in the Special Collections Library, University College London.