[Rarebooks] FS: Scarce Second Edition of Adam Smith's THE WEALTH OF NATIONS, 1778

[Charles Agvent]

This, along with many other fine items from our stock, nearly all signed 
and including new, uncatalogued arrivals, is on display in our booth 
D-20 at the New York Antiquarian Book Fair this weekend:

http://nyantiquarianbookfair.com/

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 leather, 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." Armorial 
bookplate of Gorham Parsons on the front pastedown of each volume. Some 
foxing and browning, heavier in the first volume which has the front 
free endpaper and the title strengthened at the inner and outer margins. 
Occasional slight offsetting to the text in the second volume which has 
the final gathering strengthened in the gutter. Very Good set in a 
contemporary binding. (#014386)        $75,000.00

http://www.charlesagvent.com/shop/agvent/014386.html

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