James Steuart | An Inquiry into the Principles of Political Oeconomy. London, 1767, 2 volumes, contemporary tree calf gilt

James Steuart

An Inquiry into the Principles of Political Oeconomy. London, 1767

FIRST EDITION, 2 volumes, 4to (292 x 223mm.), errata leaf at end of volume 2 (errata leaf for volume one printed on the verso of the final leaf of the preface), 2 tables (one in each volume, table at end of volume one folding), contemporary tree calf gilt, red morocco lettering pieces, marbled endpapers, heads of spines slightly chipped, otherwise a fine copy

Steuart's Inquiry anticipated Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations, which appeared nine years later. "The first English work which had any pretensions to be considered as a systematic or complete view of the subject" (J.R. McCulloch, Literature of Political Economy).

LITERATURE:

ESTC N797; Goldsmiths 10276; Kress 6498