NECKER, Jacques.

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

De l'administration des finances de la France. First edition, described by the great Scottish political economist John Ramsay McCulloch as "the only authentic account of the finances of France previously to the Revolution. Owing to the popularity of its author, and the peculiar circumstances of the country at the time when it was published, the Revolution having all but commenced, the demand for the work was so very great that 80,000 were sold in the course of a few days!" (The Literature of Political Economy: a Classified Catalogue, 1845, p. 347). For this reason there were many print runs of the first edition and it is, bibliographically, a difficult book to get to grips with. However, as this set has the correct number of errata listed in each volume (as called for in the scarce first issue) this indicates that it is at least an early issue. In 1776 Necker was appointed finance minister of Louis XVI, where he proved to be a popular and capable reformer. However enemies at court, led by Marie-Antoinette, plotted his dismissal in 1781, and Necker subsequently wrote this, his most influential and important work, before being reinstated as finance minister in 1788. A lovely set.

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