Attractive two-volume facsimile edition of An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, LL.D. and F. R. S. Limited edition, numbered 16/1000. Tokyo: Yushodo Booksellers, Ltd., 1976. Leather-bound hardcover with original full brown morocco boards, marbled endpapers, and spine with raised bands and gilt titling, 9.5 x 12, 510 pages (Vol. 1) and 587 pages (Vol. 2). Book condition: VG+/None. Accompanied by a framed original 1790 hand-colored engraving of Smith in profile, 5 x 7.5, entitled “The Author of the Wealth of Nations.”
This excellent facsimile was printed on laid paper in imitation of the original to celebrate the bicentenary of the publication of the first edition. Smith’s classic of economic thought proved prophetic. He understood the fundamental importance of labor and envisioned the theoretically perfect economy in which the producer and consumer dealt directly with each other. Smith was also a realist, who predicted the limitations of ‘laissez-faire’ economies.
