Veblen, Thorstein: The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899); v2; 14 Aug 2020
 

Seminal economic theory, the first from the consumption point of view, rather than supply and demand.

"The basis on which good repute in any highly organised industrial community ultimately rests is pecuniary strength; and the means of showing pecuniary strength, and so of gaining or retaining a good name, are leisure and a conspicuous consumption of goods."

I first encountered Veblen when reading the Travis McGee novels, where his good friend Meyer (no other name), an economist, has his own boat, the John Maynard Keynes, nearby. When that is blown up, it is replaced by the Thorstein Veblen.

I expect to have to reread this book two or three times to get the best from it, but it is quite readable and modern parallels (it dates from 1899) are obvious.

It already exists in the library in prc format. I have remade it, for epub, azw3 and Mobi formats, and created a cover. The first edition dust jacket (if there was one) seems unobtainable. The original cover was blank, and dark blue. I used a scan of a blank cover, and added text. A portrait of Veblen is the frontispiece.