Hamish Riley-Smith

ANDERSON, James. Observations on the means of exciting a spirit of National Industry; chiefly intended to promote the Agriculture, Commerce, Manufactures, and Fisheries, of Scotland. In a series of letters to a friend. Dublin, S.Price, W. and H.Whitestone, 1779

2 volumes, octavo, contemporary polished calf, rubbed, hinges cracked but holding, lxviipp + 325; (2) + 424pp, with the half title in volume II.

First Irish edition, rare, of an important book first published in Edinburgh in 1777. In this work the agricultural reformer James Anderson (1739-1808) concludes that the rent of land is a premium paid for the cultivating of soils that are more fertile than others and that its payment equalises the profits of farmers tilling land of different qualities. This, the "Ricardian" theory of rent, was first established by Anderson in this book. Anderson was a persistent critic of Adam Smith's views with respect to agricultural policy and especially on the export bounties on corn and this book contains one of the earliest published criticisms of The Wealth of Nations. It appears in volume II, Postscript to Letter XIII, pp.109-224 - "I have the misfortune to differ in opinion from an author of such extensive knowledge, and liberal sentiments, on a subject of so much real importance", seeking to counter Smith's objections to the bounty on corn. Adam Smith, who described Anderson as " a very diligent, laborious, honest Man", answered by revising one sentence in the second edition of The Wealth of Nations in which he acknowledged that he had been guilty of a "careless expression".
Kress, B170. Goldsmith, 11772. Not in Bradshaw, Irish Collection, Cambridge. Schumpeter, Economic Analysis, pp.263-265. Viner, Guide to John Rae's Life of Adam Smith, 1965 p.17. Ross, Life of Adam Smith, p.348.

£1500

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