Economics.- Smith (Adam) An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, 2 vol., second edition, vol.2 with half-title as called for, both vol. without final blanks, vol. 1 2D2 and 2D3 supplied in excellent modern facsimile, both with neat "facsimile" blindstamp to lower margin, vol. 2 2L1 with repaired tear to upper margin running into headline without loss, 3X3 with neatly repaired tear running into text without loss, occasional very light toning to text but a good, clean copy generally, ink ownership inscription of Preston Hulton to endpapers, vol. 1 with armorial bookplate of Samuel Hartley to front pastedown, contemporary speckled calf, gilt, neatly and sympathetically rebacked, spines gilt in compartments with red and green morocco labels, a few neat and expert repairs to extremities, Goldsmiths' 11663; Kress B.154; cf.PMM 221, first edition], 4to, W. Strahan; and T. Cadell, 1778.

⁂ The second edition is the rarest of the early editions of Wealth of Nations, of which only 500 copies were printed. A number of these sheets for this edition may well have been used from the first edition of 1776.

"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.