ISELIN, Isaak, ed.

£2,250 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Ephemeriden der Menschheit oder Bibliothek der Sittenlehre, der Politik und der Gesetzgebung. First editions, a substantial run of issues of the German physiocratic periodical, one of the most important journals of the late Enlightenment, including the first German-language printing of the American Declaration of Independence in Europe. It is uncommon to encounter any monthly issue in original state, and most unusual to encounter such a substantial run including the earliest numbers.The editor, Iselin (1728-1782), was the foremost promoter of physiocracy in Switzerland and Germany. After reading the Ephémérides du Citoyen, Iselin wrote that Quesnay became for him "'what Newton is in the eyes of a mathematician'... Iselin published a monthly journal in German, dedicated to the propaganda of the doctrines of the economists; this bore the title, borrowed from the French organ of the school, Ephemeriden der Menschheit. This soon gained a great reputation in German-speaking countries, and numbered among its contributors many of the most prominent economic authors of Germany [like C. L. Juncker, J. A. Schlettwein, J. G. Schlosser and others]" (Palgrave, II, p. 459-60).The journal includes essays and articles on economic subjects - agriculture, lotteries, and taxation - and political events. This includes several items around the American Revolution, most notably the printing of the Declaration of Independence, preceded in the German language only by an appearance in a newspaper in

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.