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Capital & Growth
For over three centuries, the idea of progress has played a pivotal role in shaping Western civilization. As we move through another election year, our attention turns once again to the possibilities for societal change. From the early analyses of capital distribution to the bold visions of utopia, these works in our latest catalogue highlight the enduring power of the written word to influence thought and inspire change.
PLATEA, Franciscus de. Opus restitutionum, usurarum et excommunicationum;Venice : 1477 & 1480
Early edition of one of the first printed books on an economic subject, a vigorous condemnation of usury by the Franciscan theologian Franciscus de Platea (died c.1460). The work was first published in Venice in 1472. The Padua edition, also of 1472, is the earliest book in the vast Goldsmiths' catalogue of economic literature.
"The Opus...Learn More
BUONINSEGNI, Tommaso. Trattato de' Traffichi Giusti, et Ordinarii,Venice : 1588
Scarce first edition in Italian of this widely read collection of economic tracts, an important contribution to the religious debate surrounding the new business practices of the 16th century, first published in Latin in Florence the previous year and here translated by Vitale Zuccoli.
Composed by the conservative Dominican professor of...Learn More
BOTERO, Giovanni. Della Ragion di Stato, Libri Dieci.Venice : 1589
First edition of Botero's most important contribution to political philosophy, an anti-Machiavellian mirror-for-princes treatise which grounds "reason of state" in Christian morality.
Botero's premise is that the foundation of the state is the obedience of subjects to their superiors. Machiavelli did not necessarily disagree, though he...Learn More
LAFFEMAS, Isaac de. L'Histoire du commerce de France.Paris : 1606
First edition of Isaac de Laffemas's history of commerce in France, one of the earliest histories of trade and "a real incunabulum of this historiographical genre" (Fontana & Alimento, p. 8). Drawing upon several historical accounts and sources, Laffemas discusses the practices of other nations involved in manufacture and commerce, mentioning...Learn More
BLAXTON, John (ed.). The English usurer; or Usury Condemned,London : 1634
Second edition, published the same year as the first, of this scarce anthology of contemporary English writing on usury. This copy includes a crisp example of the woodcut frontispiece, contrasting a gowned moneylender with pigs rooting in filth.
During this period, the use of money as capital, investment, and interest increased...Learn More
HAWKE, Michael. The Right of Dominion, and Property of Liberty, whether Natural, Civil, or Religious.London : 1655
Rare first edition of this important work of political philosophy, the inheritor of ideas expressed in De cure ac belli et ac paci of Grotius (first published in English, 1654) and of Hobbes's Leviathan and De cive (both published in English in 1651).
The dedication to Oliver Cromwell ("Magno, Magne Britannie Principi &c. Protectori, Patri...Learn More
PETTY, William. A Treatise of Taxes & Contributions.London : 1662
First edition of Petty's first economic treatise, published as a contribution to the discussions over raising and spending government revenue in the aftermath of the Restoration, and comprising a significant original contribution to economics: "one of the handful of first-rate economic treatises and a classic on its subject" (Strauss, p....Learn More
GRAUNT, John. Natural and Political Observations,London : 1662
Second edition, first published earlier the same year, of a work which includes the publication of the first known life table to be based, in part, on real mortality data. "The scientific study of the numbers, characteristics and territorial distribution of populations - today called demography - began with Graunt" (PMM).
Graunt drew up his...Learn More
REYNELL, Carew. The True English Interest:London : 1674
First edition of this perceptive survey of the Restoration economy, outlining protectionist and mercantilist arguments. This copy is complete with the initial imprimatur and the terminal advertisement leaves.
Carew Reynell (1636-1690), a Tory landowner, reflects on the products and performance of key English industries, as well as the...Learn More
HAUTEFEUILLE, Jean de. Three pamphlet proposals for a paper currency.1694-1716
First editions of these scarce proposals on the monetary situation in late 17th-century France. Hautefeuille's 1694 tract advocates a paper currency, more than ten years before John Law first suggested the idea.
Following a series of wars, the French government was heavily in debt and running low on gold and silver currency. Jean de...Learn More
CLEMENT, Simon. A Discourse of the general Notions of Money, Trade, & Exchanges,London : 1695
First edition of this scarce mercantilist pamphlet, uncut and folded as issued. Chi-Yuen Wu notes that "Although the honour of having given the first descriptions of the specie-point mechanism must be shared by Petty, Locke, and Simon Clement, the description of Clement is the most elaborate of the three" (p. 50).
In the 1690s, England...Learn More
DUNNING, Richard. Bread for The Poor: or, A Method shewing how the Poor may be Maintained, and duly Provided for,Exeter : 1698
First edition of this proposal for the reform of the poor law in Devon, arguing that an overindulgence in poor relief had greatly increased the financial burden on the authorities, and putting forward a new system with provision of food in return for work.
The pamphlet followed a similar work by the same author in 1685: A Plain and Easie...Learn More
SAUGRAIN, Claude Marin. Dénombrement du royaume par généralitez, elections, paroisses et feux.Paris : 1709
First edition of this census of France in the last years of Louis XIV. Saugrain's work provides the number of households in virtually every town and commune: the work "allows one to estimate with only a small margin of error the population of France and its distribution" (Pounds, p. 93)
Claude-Marin Saugrain (1679-1750) seems to have been...Learn More
DEFOE, Daniel. Mercator: or, Commerce Retrieved,London : 1713-14
A complete run, in a contemporary binding, of Defoe's newspaper, issued thrice-weekly and designed to support the proposed Treaty of Commerce with France.
Though Defoe denied authorship of the paper, it is generally accepted that he was at least the editor and had a strong role in the thrust and tone of the text. Credit for assistance is...Learn More
KING, Charles. The British Merchant; or, Commerce Preserv'd.London : 1721
First collected edition of King's periodical, presenting a valuable compilation of contemporary merchant opinion, and a clear statement of the mercantilist, anti-free trade doctrine which dominated British economic thought prior to Adam Smith.
Originally printed as a twice-weekly paper in 1713-14, The British Merchant rallied opposition...Learn More
VICO, Giambattista. Principj di una scienza nuova intorno alla natura delle nazioni.Naples : 1725
Exceptionally rare first edition of Vico's New Science, an unusually fine copy, fresh and untrimmed in interim boards, and with manuscript corrections to the text made by Vico or on his instruction. A seminal historiographical work, the New Science was "the vehicle by which the concept of historical development at last entered the thought of...Learn More
MANDEVILLE, Bernard. An Enquiry into the Origin of Honour, and The Usefulness of Christianity in War.London : 1732
First edition of the author's last book; the final instalment of a long string of incendiary treatises which incensed his contemporaries. Following his tracts attacking Christian ethics, defending brothels, and opposing charity schools, Mandeville here turns to the readiness with which Christianity can be perverted to militarism, and asserts that...Learn More
VANDERLINT, Jacob. Money answers all things: or, an Essay to make money sufficiently plentiful amongst all ranks of people and increase our foreign and domestick trade; Fill the Empty Houses with Inhabitants, Encourage the Marriage State, Lessen the Number of Hawkers and PeLondon : 1734
First edition of "the first scientific study of the question of distribution" (Foxwell), anticipating the Physiocratic positions on single tax land rents and free trade.
"Stewart compared [Vanderlint] also with David Hume... McCulloch used Stewart's opinions on several occasions and may have provided the basis for Marx's charge that 'Hume...Learn More
MAGENS, Nicolaus. An Essay on Insurances,London : 1755
First edition in English, laying the foundations of modern insurance in England, being a substantially enlarged and revised version of the original German text (Versuch über Assecuranzen, Hamburg, 1753).
Nicolaus Magens was a German merchant who lived for many years in England and gained a great reputation in commercial matters. His...Learn More
MASSIE, Joseph. Reasons humbly offered Against laying any farther Tax upon Malt or Beer,London : 1760
First edition of this economic tract protesting against the proposed increase in beer duties by the Pitt-Newcastle government. Joseph Massie (d. 1784), an economic theorist and statistician, was closely associated with Pitt during the 1750s, yet retained enough independence as an analyst to criticize this piece of government policy....Learn More
