Abstract of the answers and returns made pursuant to an act, passed in the forty-first year of His Majesty King George III

[Rickman, John (1771-1840).] Abstract of the answers and returns made pursuant to an act, passed in the forty-first year of His Majesty King George III. Intituled, "An act for taking an account of the population of Great Britain, and the increase or diminution thereof." 2 vols. in 3, folio. [4], 503; [2], 509-547, [1], 13; [4], 459, [1], 13pp. The final 13 pages in Vol. I, part 2 duplicated in Vol. II. [London: His Majesty's Stationery Office], 1801-2. 322 x 198 mm. (Vol. I, part 2 measures 304 x 203 mm.). Half calf, marbled boards ca. 1802; Vol. I, part 2 in modern half calf to match; slight wear and darkening to spines. Very good set apart from some soiling in Vol. I, part 2. Engraved armorial bookplate of Tory politician John Pollexfen Bastard (1756-1816) in two of the three volumes.

First Edition of the First English Census. Rickman, a British government official and statistician, drafted the bill that became the 1800 Census Act, which established for the first time a national decennial census of Britain's general population. Rickman had been arguing for a national census since at least 1798, claiming that it would provide essential information to Britain's political, military and industrial leaders—as well as giving a stimulus to the life insurance business! His arguments were given an additional boost with the publication of Malthus's Essay on the Principle of Population (1798), which spurred concerns about Britain's population and helped to break down resistance to the idea of compiling national population statistics. After the Census Bill passed Rickman helped to carry out the first four British censuses, which included not only a population count but also the collection and analysis of parish register returns.