SMITH | The Wealth of Nations, 1776

From the Library of the Earls of Haddington

SMITH, ADAM

An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. For W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1776

4to (264 x 216mm.), 2 volumes, FIRST EDITION, half-title in volume 2, publisher's advertisement at end of volume 2, cancels as usual (volume 1: M3, Q1, U3, 2Z3, 3A4, 3O4; volume 2: D1, 3Z4), contemporary sprinkled calf gilt, spines in six compartments with Golden Fleece motifs, red and green morocco labels, pale yellow edges, upper corner of 3O4 imperfectly cut with excess neatly folded, some minor spotting to text and minor offsetting to endpapers, lower joint of volume 1 cracked, slightly bumped at corners

A NEAR FINE COPY OF THE "FIRST AND GREATEST CLASSIC OF MODERN ECONOMIC THOUGHT" (Printing and the Mind of Man), which transformed the subject of political economy and introduced the key concepts which have dominated the field ever since, even up to and beyond the great financial crash of 2008. For instance Smith had strong views on the fragility and moral hazard of paper money, noting that it can disguise the growth of debt and provide a hollow appearance of wealth which he termed no more than a governmental "juggling trick". 

"The Wealth of Nations had no rival in scope or depth when published and is still one of the few works in its field to have achieved classic status, meaning simply that it has sustained yet survived repeated reading, critical and adulatory, long after the circumstances which prompted it have become the object of historical enquiry...". (Donald Winch, Oxford DNB).

LITERATURE:

ESTC T96668; PMM 221; Rothschild 1897; Kress 7621; Goldsmith's 11392; Sabin 82303

PROVENANCE:

The landowner and politician George Baillie, of Jerviswood (1664–1738), bookplate (posthumously inserted); his daughter Rachel (1696–1773), who in 1717 married Charles, Lord Binning, son and heir to the earl of Haddington; thence by descent

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