About this edition

The text follows the Memorial Edition, Doubleday and McClure, New York, 1898, as transcribed and proofread by Carlo Traverso, Les Galloway and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team (Gutenberg eBook #55308). Nothing in George’s words has been changed. Only the layout is new.

What was added

• The book is split into 43 chapter pages, with the dedication, preface, introduction, book openings and conclusion on pages of their own.
• The 563 page numbers of the 1898 edition are kept in the margin, so you can cite the printed page.
• All 68 of George’s footnotes now sit at the end of the chapter that cites them. They also open beside the text when you select the note number.
• George’s index (102 topics) links each page reference to the right place in its chapter. Each chapter ends with a list of the index topics it covers.
• Paragraphs are numbered within each chapter. Select a number to copy a link and citation, such as Progress and Poverty, VI.2 ¶14.

The contemporary version

Beside George’s text runs a contemporary English rendering, written for this site so that readers who would never finish an 1879 book can follow his argument at full length. It goes thought for thought, not word for word, the way a modern Bible translation sits beside the King James. Every paragraph, claim, example and figure is kept. Nothing is added except a few words identifying names a modern reader might not know.

The rendering is a guide, not a replacement. George’s original sits next to it on every page, and wherever the two differ, his words are the authority.

Keyboard

Use the left and right arrow keys to go to the previous or next chapter.

Transcriber’s note