Description
First American edition of The Road to Serfdom by Friedrich A. Hayek, in the scarce first state dust jacket. This copy is from the private library of journalist and labor activist, Benjamin Stolberg.
Octavo, xi, [1], 250pp. Blue cloth, title stamped in gilt on spine. No additional printings mentioned on copyright page. Occasional pencil notations throughout the text. In the publisher’s exceptionally scarce first state dust jacket, $2.75 on front flap, one review from the London Times on rear panel, chipping to edges, sunning to spine, a delicate example. Housed in custom black cloth clamshell, title in gilt on spine. Ownership inscription from Benjamin Stolberg on the front free endpaper, dated the month of publication. This is one of 2000 first printings of the American edition, followed the same month with a second printing due to demand. An exceptional association copy.
The Road to Serfdom, first published in London in 1944, is “one of the most important books of our generation” (Hazlitt). Hayek argues that economic planning, or “planning against competition,” eventually leads to dictatorship, a foundational principle in libertarian beliefs. The recipient of this copy, labor journalist and author Benjamin Stolberg, wrote for The New York Times and the New York Herald during his career. Stolberg was an ardent supporter of labor unions but was suspicious of the communist influence upon American labor unions, which he wrote about at length.
