SMITH (Adam).
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. With a Memoir of the Author's Life. Complete in One Volume.
RARE ONE-VOLUME EDITION
An uncommon mid-nineteenth century one-volume edition of ‘the first and greatest classic of modern economic thought’ (PMM). “This is a one-volume version, but not a copy of the 1827 edition since it is in single column and the frontmatter differs. Collophon p. 645 ‘James Clark, Printer, Aberdeen’. The ‘Memoir of Adam Smith’ pp. v–x is a condensed version of the memoir appearing in the 1827 edition” (Tribe, p. 261).
Originally published in 1776, ‘The Wealth of Nations had no rival in scope or depth when published and is still one of the few works in its field to have achieved classic status, meaning simply that it has sustained yet survived repeated reading, critical and adulatory, long after the circumstances which prompted it have become the object of historical enquiry’ (ODNB).
Tribe, A Critical Bibliography of Adam Smith, 163.
