Adam Smith

A finely bound second edition of The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith.

• Sold as a set of 2 volumes.
• Adam Smith (Scottish).
• London: Printed for W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1778.
• Part of an edition of 500.
• Quarto.
• viii, 510; [viii], 589, [1] pages.
• Half title to volume II as issued.
• Bound in contemporary tree calf, contrasting Morocco lettering pieces and volume labels to spine.

The scarce second edition of Adam Smith's masterpiece, the 'first and greatest classic of modern economic thought.'

Smith spent ten years writing and perfecting The Wealth of Nations, the popularity of which surpassed even its publisher's expectations upon release and soon led to the preparation and publication of this second edition. Only 500 copies were printed, and this edition was the last to be issued in an expensive quarto format, priced at £2 2s.

As the title explains, the work is fundamentally an investigation into what makes certain nations prosperous. Smith's originality lies in locating the roots of this comparative wealth in the specialization of labor which had occurred in developed economies, for the 'annual labor of every nation is the fund which originally supplies it with all the necessaries and conveniences of life which it annually consumes, and which consist always, either in the immediate produce of that labor, or in what is purchased with that produce from other nations.'