Editing Jeremy Bentham (section)

==== Bowring (1838–1843) ====
[[John Bowring]], the young radical writer who had been Bentham's intimate friend and disciple, was appointed his [[literary executor]] and charged with the task of preparing a collected edition of his works. This appeared in 11 volumes in 1838–1843. Bowring based much of his edition on previously published texts (including those of Dumont) rather than Bentham's own manuscripts, and elected not to publish Bentham's works on religion at all. The edition was described by the ''[[Edinburgh Review]]'' on first publication as "incomplete, incorrect and ill-arranged", and has since been repeatedly criticised both for its omissions and for errors of detail; while Bowring's memoir of Bentham's life included in volumes 10 and 11 was described by Sir [[Leslie Stephen]] as "one of the worst biographies in the language".{{sfn|Bartle|1963|p=27}} Nevertheless, Bowring's remained the standard edition of most of Bentham's writings for over a century, and is still only partially superseded: it includes such interesting writings on international{{efn|a word [http://www.ucl.ac.uk/bentham-project/tools/neologisms Bentham himself coined]}} relations as Bentham's [[A Plan for an Universal and Perpetual Peace]] written 1786–89, which forms part IV of the [[Principles of International Law]].