[Rarebooks] fa: METHODS OF MAKING A PEOPLE GAINERS IN THE BALLANCE OF TRADE 1699 - Charles Davenant

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, June 23. More details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching under the seller name arch_in_la.

http://tinyurl.com/lpqofls

Thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.


[Charles Davenant:] An Essay upon the Probable Methods of Making a People Gainers in the Ballance of Trade. Treating of these Heads, viz. Of the People of England. Of the Land of England, and its Product. Of our Payments to the Publick, and in what manner the Ballance of Trade may be thereby affected. That a Country cannot increase in Wealth and Power but by private Men doing their Duty to the Publick, and but by a steady Course of Honesty and Wisdom, in such as are trusted with the Administration of Affairs. By the Author of The Essay on Ways  and Means. London: Printed for James Knapton, at the Crown in St. Paul’s Church-yard, 1699. FIRST EDITION. Small 8vo (193 mm), recently bound in half calf and paper-covered boards with gilt-stamped spine label; [16], 181, 183-184, 186-187, 189-190, 192-199, 300-308, 209-312 pp. (erratic pagination but text and registry are continuous and complete); with 5 (of 8) tables, three of them folding. Kress 2114; Goldsmiths 3580; Wing D309; ESTC R5221.

A seminal work of political economy by one of the earliest English students of issues related to the balance of trade. The work deals with mercantilism vs. free trade, population, natural resources, the poor laws, the origins of the Whig and Tory parties, etc. Of particular interest for its extensive quotations from the estimates of Gregory King, previously available only in manuscript. Lacking three of the tables (supplied in photocopied facsimile), else complete; mild toning to the title-page and last page, some bumping to the corners, occasional light damp-staining, a few scattered small spots and touches of soiling; otherwise clean and sound, firmly bound.