Papers and Correspondence of William Stanley Jevons: Volume I Biography and Personal Journal

has long been recognised as a leading figure in the development of economic thought and for that reason, perhaps, the general impression has tended to be that there is little more to be known about his life and work than has long been established and accepted. This impression was fostered by the fact that after his early death in 1882, his widow, aided first by H. S. FoxweIl and later by Henry Riggs, brought out aseries of volumes which appeared to incorporate virtually all of Jevons's completed economic papers, including both those already published and those left in manuscript. These were Methods oj Social Reform (1883), Investigations in Currency and Finance (1884) and The Principles oj Economics (1905). MrsJevons also published, in 1886, theLetters andJournal ojW. Stanley Jevons, a selection from her husband's letters and private papers 'which would give, to those who knew [hirn] only by his writings, the best idea of his character as a man in the different relations of life'. This became the main source of biographical information, used extensively, for example, by Keynes in his 'Centenary Allocution' on the life and work of Jevons, read before the Royal Statistical Society on 21 April 1936, and later Front Matter....Pages i-xv Biographical Introduction....Pages 1-52 The Journal of William Stanley Jevons....Pages 53-212 Back Matter....Pages 213-243