H i s t o r y , P h i l o s o p h y & R e l i g i o n 76 “The First And Greatest Classic Of Modern Economic Thought”: 1786 Edition Of Wealth Of Nations 97. SMITH, Adam. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. London, 1786. Three volumes. Octavo, contemporary full brown speckled calf gilt rebacked with original spines neatly laid down. $12,000. 1786 edition (fourth edition overall) of Smith’s landmark work on the individual’s right to the free exercise of economic activity—“the first and greatest classic of modern economic thought” (PMM), a beautiful copy in nicely restored contemporary calf-gilt. Wealth of Nations was an immediate success when first published, and only four additional editions came out during Smith’s lifetime. The 1776 first edition is exceptionally rare. “The tone of irreverent skepticism with which it describes the motives ofmen and governments has influenced the style of economic discourse to the present day… The historical importance of the Wealth of Nations is surpassed by no other economic book… Smith, for the first time, put together the body of economic knowledge that can still be recognized as an early form of what today may be called mainstream economics” (Niehans, A History of Economic Theory, 62-72). On publication of the first American edition, three years after this major English edition, Thomas Jefferson wrote, “In political economy I think Smith’s Wealth Of Nations the best book extant.” This edition “is printed in the same style and with exactly the same pagination” as the 1784 first octavo edition. It is the first London edition to incorporate the significant additions, revisions and corrections first made by Smith in that edition, with a few alterations in wording (Library of Economics Liberty). Bound without half titles. ESTC T96679. Engraved armorial bookplate. Owner ink signature. Light spotting to endpapers and first few and last few leaves; text generally clean. Contemporary calf-gilt bindings expertly refurbished and quite handsome. “It was not by gold or by silver, but by labour, that all the wealth of the world was originally purchased…”
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