SMITH, Adam.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. An early edition of a foundational work of economics, and the first to include a biography of Smith."The Wealth of Nations had no rival in scope or depth when published and is still one of the few works in its field to have achieved classic status, meaning simply that it has sustained yet survived repeated reading, critical and adulatory, long after the circumstances which prompted it have become the object of historical enquiry" (ODNB).This was "the first post-copyright three volume edition" (Tribe) - the copyright had lapsed in 1804, following first publication in 1776. The biography draws heavily on Dugald Stewart's memoir of Smith (first published in 1795), while incorporating later biographical material, and was frequently reprinted in the first half of the nineteenth century. The "view of the doctrine of Smith" is a translation of Garnier's preface to the 1802 French edition of Smith's works - "this translation is the base from which all later editions worked, modifying in time only spelling and punctuation" (Tribe).Glasgow, the place of publication, was more formative for Smith than any other Scottish city: he entered the university aged fourteen and later held chairs in logic and moral philosophy there, forming close associations with figures such as David Hume, James Watt, and Robert Foulis.

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