SMITH, Adam. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. London: for W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1776 [40200] 2 volumes, 4to. Rebound in 18th-century tree calf boards rebacked to style with fully gilt spine, red and green labels, marbled endpapers, sprinkled edges. Without half title in vol. II and final blank in vol. I. Library blindstamp in upper outer corner to the margins of first and last few leaves in each volume; no other library marks. Several small paper flaws with loss or partial loss to 3 pagination numerals, a few short tears in margins, small hole in 2 leaves (touching letters in 2P2 in volume 2); a few trivial spots as usual, overall a very good copy, generally clean and wide-margined. £65,000
First Edition. “Where the political aspects 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 Wealth of Nations is not a system, but as a provisional analysis it is completely convincing. The certainty of its criticism and its grasp of human nature have made it the first and greatest classic of modern economic thought” (PMM).
"The Wealth of Nations had no rival in scope or depth when published and is still one of the few works in its field to have achieved classic status, meaning simply that it has sustained yet survived repeated reading, critical and adulatory, long after the circumstances which prompted it have become the object of historical enquiry..." (ODNB).
PMM 221.