[DUPONT DE NEMOURS (Pierre Samuel).]
De l'origine et des progrès d'une science nouvelle.
A lovely copy of this important exposition of physiocrat doctrine
A lovely copy in attractive decorated paper wrappers of this important exposition of physiocrat doctrine by Pierre Samuel Du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817), surely the rarest of his published works.
The anonymously published pamphlet was written as a popular exposition Le Mercier de la Rivière’s L’ordre naturel et essentiel des sociétés politiques (1767), a work that would be later described by Adam Smith as ‘the most distinct and best connected account of [physiocrat] doctrine’. ‘Du Pont was so stirred by the book, which he called ‘excellent’ and ‘sublime’, that he decided to prepare a concise summary of the ‘new science’ discovered by Quensay, a summary based upon Mercier de La Rivière’s more detailed presentation of the tenets of physiocracy. … From the standpoint of conciseness and lucidity of statement, De l’origine et des progress d‘une science nouvelle must hold high place among Du Pont’s works. It was reprinted in an expanded edition of edition of Physiocratie, which appeared in 1768 and 1769 and was translated into German in 1770’ (Sarricks, Pierre Samuel Du Pont De Nemours, p. 47, 50).
Goldsmiths’, 10390; Sraffa, 1458 [notes that it was ‘actually published in December 1767’].
