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The Works of Jeremy Bentham

Jeremy Bentham

The Bowring edition of Bentham's collected writings, shown here through its digitized library copy. It gathers his works in several printed volumes.

This collected edition gathers Bentham's own writings, so it is a direct record of the ideas he published.

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Dark brown cloth book cover with a white library label at the top left reading 'B 3 9015 00228 208 8' and 'University of Michigan - BUHR'. Bottom shows 'Digitized by Google' and 'Original from University of Michigan'.
Jeremy Bentham, The Works of Jeremy Bentham (Bowring edition). Digitized copy, University of Michigan.

About this source

What it is

This entry is the catalogue page for The Works of Jeremy Bentham, a collected edition of his writings. The image shown is a photograph of a dark brown cloth book cover with a white library label from the University of Michigan, and a 'Digitized by Google' mark. The image shows the book itself, not its text.

Why it matters

Collected editions like this one preserved and spread Bentham's ideas on law, government and prison reform after his death in 1832. Libraries and scholars have relied on such volumes to study his thought.

Look closer

  • What do the library label and digitization marks tell you about how this book reached readers today?
  • Why might a collected edition give a different picture of a thinker than a single essay?
  • What would you need to read in the actual volumes to judge Bentham's arguments?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Jeremy Bentham on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Title page of An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation. Text reads: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PRINCIPLES OF MORALS AND LEGISLATION, printed in the year 1780 and now first published, by Jeremy Bentham, of Lincoln's Inn, Esquire. London: printed for T. Payne and Son, at the Mews Gate, MDCCLXXXIX.Book

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An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation

Jeremy Bentham · 1789 (printed 1780)

Title page of Jeremy Bentham's 'Panopticon; or, The Inspection-House' (1791), showing the title, subtitle listing penitentiary houses and schools, author 'By Jeremy Bentham, of Lincoln's Inn, Esquire', and imprint 'Dublin, Printed; London, reprinted; and sold by T. Payne, at the Mews Gate. 1791'.Book

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Panopticon; or, The Inspection-House

Jeremy Bentham · 1791 (letters written 1787)

Wooden cabinet case with gold lettering reading JEREMY BENTHAM, its doors open, containing a seated figure dressed in black coat, white cravat, grey trousers and a straw hat, with a wax head. The display is in a tiled hallway.Artifact

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Auto-icon of Jeremy Bentham

Thomas Southwood Smith · 1832

Dark blue cloth book cover with a white rectangular library label on the left spine area reading Trinity College Library, with a barcode and number 31761 02710574 1 printed vertically.Book

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A Fragment on Government

Jeremy Bentham · 1776

Full-length oil portrait of an elderly man with long white hair, seated in a carved wooden armchair in a dark brown fur-trimmed robe over a white shirt. A table at left holds leather-bound books, an inkwell, papers, and a rolled document against a dark background.Painting

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Jeremy Bentham

Henry William Pickersgill · c. 1829

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