Adam Smith

A finely bound edition of Adam Smith's The Wealth Of Nations.

• Sold as a set of 3 volumes.
• Adam Smith (Scottish).
• An Inquiry into The Nature and Causes of The Wealth of Nations.
• London: J. Maynard and others, 1811.
• Octavos.
• Original polished-calf boards, re-spined to style with gilt rules, burgundy leather title labels, floral tooling.

Smith's monumental work in attractive nineteenth century boards. Reputedly stolen by Gypsies at the age of three, Smith grew up to become one of the pillars of the Scottish Enlightenment, winning fame as a moral philosopher as well as an economist. In The Wealth of Nations, Smith laid the intellectual foundations for a liberal free-market society, and in so doing revolutionized the understanding of how societies, governments, and markets interact. He always insisted, from The Theory of Moral Sentiments onwards, that the 'invisible hand of the market' would regulate capitalist impulses and channel excessive behavior into productive and beneficent projects. The Wealth of Nations further addresses questions of sovereignty of colonies, the origins of coinage, and the concept of credit, all of which would have a profound influence on the germinating United States of America, which declared independence in July 1776, the same year that Smith's work was first published.

Armorial bookplate of John Low Esq. to volumes two and three. Low was Chairman of the Tipperary Petty Sessions [District Court], and resided at Spring House [now Kilshane House], Kilshane, Tipperary, Ireland.