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Smith, Adam.
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
Publisher: R. Chapman, Glasgow;
Date of Publication: 1805
Stock Code: 10102
Duodecimo in sixes, 4 volumes: pp., viii, 304; iv, 286; iv, 284, [6]; iv, 280. Bound in full contemporary tree calf over boards; gilt fillets across spine, gilt volume numbers, red spine labels with gilt titles; blue and red marbled fore-edges. Small crack (3cm) starting to upper joint of vol. 1., some light toning and foxing mainly to prelims, and a contemporary inscription to ffeps “Malcolm Buchanan’s Book 1815” otherwise free from inscriptions or annotations. A handsome early Scottish edition, in a contemporary binding, of the magnum opus of the economist, moral philosopher and key figure of the Scottish Enlightenment Adam Smith (1723-1790). Published in Glasgow, the city where Smith studied as a young man and held posts at the University, variously as Professor of Logic in 1751 and then Professor of Moral Philosophy until he left academia in 1764. Although not published until 1776, Smith developed and lectured on many of the leading themes in Wealth of Nations whilst teaching at Glasgow, with the work going on to lay the foundations of both classical free market economic theory and the modern academic discipline of economics. “Where the political analysis of human rights had taken two centuries to explore, Smith’s achievement was to bring the study of economic aspects to the same point in a single work... The first and greatest classic of modern economic thought”. (PMM 221). £1500.00