[Rarebooks] FS: Adam Smith's INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF THE WEALTH OF NATIONS, 1778

[Charles Agvent]

 From our latest internet-only catalogue: Spring 2008 containing 77 fine 
pieces and now posted on our website: http://www.erols.com/agvent

SMITH,  Adam.  AN INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF THE WEALTH  OF
NATIONS.  London:  W.  Strahan & T. Cadell 1778. Second  Edition.  Two
large  quarto  volumes  (8.5"  x 10.6875"); [8], 510;  [8],  589,  [1]
pages.  Complete  with half-title in Volume II (no  half-title  called
for  in  Volume  I). Contemporary calf, rebacked, with  original  gilt
spines  and morocco labels laid down. Corners renewed. First published
in  1776, this Second Edition is scarcer than the first with only  500
copies  printed  and  is the only other edition  published  in  quarto
format.  "The  second edition exhibits a number of  alterations  large
and  small, some providing new information, some correcting matters of
fact,  some  perfecting the idiom, and a large number now  documenting
references  in footnotes" (William B. Todd, in the 1976 Oxford edition
of  THE WEALTH OF NATIONS). Adam Smith (1723-1790) spent ten years  in
the  writing  and  perfecting  of  THE WEALTH  OF  NATIONS.  The  book
succeeded  at once, and the first edition was exhausted in six months.
Goldsmith  11663;  Grolier, 100 English, 57; KressB 154; PRINTING  AND
THE  MIND OF MAN 221: "The certainty of its criticism and its grasp of
human  nature  have made it the first and greatest classic  of  modern
economic  thought."  Some  foxing and browning, heavier in  the  first
volume  which  has the front free endpaper and the title  strengthened
at  inner and outer margins. Occasional slight offsetting to the  text
in  the  second volume which has the final gathering  strengthened  in
the  gutter.  Armorial  bookplate  of  Gorham  Parsons  on  the  front
pastedown  of  each  volume. Very Good set  in  contemporary  binding.
                                                             $75,000.00

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