An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations...With a Life of the Author, an Introductory Discourse, Notes and Supplemental Dissertations. Fourth Edition, Corrected and Improved

Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black;: and Longman, Brown, Brown, Green & Longmans, London, 1850. (8 3/4 x 5 9/16 inches). Half-title, Title, [vi], [i]-lxvi, [1]-685, advertisement leaves. Largely uncut and unopened. Illustrated with two portraits of Smith by Scottish engravers, Robert Charles Bell (1806-1872) and John Kay (1742-1826). In brown cloth with decorative blind tooling, spine gilt. Slight wear to the top and bottom of spines.

Few works cast as long and enduring a shadow as Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations in the pantheon of economics theory and beyond. Originally authored in the throes of the Enlightenment, Wealth of Nations remains (truncated) an intellectual colossus, a foundational treatise that paved the pathways of modern economics. Its exploration of market dynamics, the "invisible hand," and the division of labour presents core concepts that weave through the epochs of economic thought. The present edition published in Edinburgh in 1850 contains contributions by John Ramsay M'Culloch an economist and a luminary of his own time. In his 'Introductory Discourse,' M'Culloch, comprehensively contextualized Smith's magnum opus with portraits of political science before the time of publication, upon publication, and after the publication of Wealth of Nations, thus emphasising its discipline-defining significance and connecting eras of economic contemplation. In his analysis of the "Progress of economy since the publication of the Wealth of Nations," M'Culloch demonstrated how the work reverberated with his own era's questions and dialogues by responding to his contemporaries such as Thomas Robert Malthus, Jean-Baptiste Say, and David Ricardo. In doing so M'Culloch reminded readers of the enduring value of Smith's work to serve as a guide to the ever-present and ever-pressing dilemma: how to make a capitalist economy more humane and more meaningful. (Inventory #: 41312)