Lot 230: SMITH, ADAM

AN INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF THE WEALTH OF NATIONS. FOR W. STRAHAN AND T. CADELL, 1776 4to (275 x 210mm.), 2 volumes, first edition, half-title in volume 2, publisher's advertisement at end of volume 2, cancels as usual (volume 1: M3, Q1, U3, 2Z3, 3A4, 3O4; volume 2: D1, 3Z4), contemporary sprinkled calf, spine gilt in compartments, red and green morocco lettering-pieces, wormholes in title-page and preliminaries of vol.1, hinges slightly worn, some small marginal tears, slightly foxed and browned, joints repaired, lettering-pieces torn, other repairs to spine and extremities

ESTC T96668; PMM 221; Rothschild 1897; Kress 7621; Goldsmith's 11392; Sabin 82303

John Munkman, inscription dated 1815; L. Schram, inscription; Theo Keller, bookplate;

First edition of the "first and greatest classic of modern economic thought" (Printing and the Mind of Man). "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...". (Donald Winch, Oxford DNB).