(MELON, Jean François) Essai politique sur le commerce. (Rouen or Bordeaux ?), n. pr., 1734.
Sm.-8vo. IV, 264 pp. Woodcut vignette on title. Contemporary vellum (browned, stained); gilt stamped spine label. First edition. This edition appeared in 2 issues (with different numbers of pages) but the reference books don't give a chronological sequence. The issue of our copy seems to be the rarer one (Quérard and Barbier list the issue with 276 pp. only). Melon (1680 - 1738), lawyer at Bordeaux and later John Law's secretary is considered to be an early mercantilist and a precursor of the physiocratic theory. Voltaire on the Essai: " C'est l'ouvrage d'un homme d'esprit, d'un citoyen, d'un philosophe ; et je ne crois pas que du temps même du Colbert, il y eut en France deux homme capables de composer un tel livre. Cependant il y a bien des erreurs dans ce bon ouvrage, tant le chemin vers la vérité est difficile " (Nouvelle Biographie Générale, vol. 34, p. 589). Slightly browned throughout, rear free end-paper damp-stained, otherwise clean. Einaudi 3820; Goldsmith's 7201; NUC 374, 654 (3 copies only); BN (Paris) 111, 1061. Cf. Barbier II, 224 a; Quérard VI, S. 29/30. Not in Kress.
Euro1800
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