An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Three Volumes, 1812

Smith LL.D F.R.S., Adam. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. A New Edition, to Which is Prefixed an Account of the Life of the Author, and A View of His Doctrine Compared with that of the French Economists. London: Cadell and Davies; F.C. and J. Rivington; Otridge and Son; F. Wingrave; Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown; John Richardson; J. Booker; B. Crosby; E. Jeffrey; W. Stewart; Black, Parry, and Kingsbury; S. Bagster; J. Mawman; J. Asperne; and R. Scholey, 1812. Three volumes, octavos. Bound in full leather, rebacked, with raised bands, gilt titles, and gilt tooling to spines. Marbled paper edges. 

Presented is a handsome 1812 printing of Adam Smith’s An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Complete in three volumes, this edition was printed by Strahan and Preston in London, for fifteen publishers, including Cadell and Davies, F.C. and J. Rivington, Otridge and Son, and others. This “New Edition,” with its additions on Smith's life and a comparison of his doctrine with that of French economists, provides a comprehensive understanding of Smith's work and its context. It is presented here in full brown leather boards, rebacked, with raised bands, gilt titles, and gilt tooling to the spines, and marbled paper edges. 

A foundational book in classical economics, Smith’s book explores the mechanisms by which nations build wealth, including the division of labor, free markets, and the role of prices in resource allocation. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations was first published on March 9, 1776 by W. Strahan and T. Cadell. No printing records are known to survive, but Tribe notes that “the press run was either 500 or 750 copies.” Strahan and Cadell published four more editions in Smith’s lifetime, including a quarto-sized second edition in 1778, a 1784 third edition, the first in three volumes, and a fourth and fifth edition in 1786 and 1789, respectively. After Smith’s passing, Strahan and Cadell published five more editions before the then-28 year statutory copyright expired in 1804. 

With the end of the legal copyright protections in 1804, other publishers rushed to produce their own editions and capitalize on the book’s enormous success. Four new editions were published in 1805 alone. Notably, a three volume edition was printed in Glasgow at the University Press for Mundell & Son and Arch Constable & Co., Edinburgh, with additional “Comprehending the Life of the Author, and A View of the Doctrine of Smith, Compared with that of the French Economists.” Tribe called this edition “most significant, since it contained a translation of [comte Germain] Garnier’s ‘Comparative View’ and ‘Method’ from his 1802 French edition, together with a ‘Life of the Author.’” This soon became the pattern for many subsequent editions, including this 1812 edition by Cadell and Davies, et al.

CONDITION: 

Very good condition overall. Complete in three volumes. Octavos. Bound in full leather, rebacked, with raised bands, gilt titles, and gilt tooling to the spines. Marbled paper edges.  Interior pages with some scattered foxing, light rubbing and wear.  xliii, 499; viii, 523; vii, 515 pp, [20 pp advertisements].

Dimensions: ~8 7/8" H x 5 1/2" W x 1 3/8" D (each volume). 

Accompanied by our company's letter of authenticity.