SMITH, Adam.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Untersuchung der Natur und Ursachen von Nationalreichthümern. First edition in German of The Wealth of Nations, constituting the first translation of the work into any language. This copy, in an unrestored contemporary German binding, is complete with the supplementary third volume which translates the 1783 Additions and Corrections to... the Wealth of Nations..The translation was undertaken by Johann Friedrich Schiller, a cousin of the poet Friedrich Schiller. The translation was completed "in two parts, Books I-III appearing within the same year that the original appeared, the second volume with Books IV and V then being published two years later. Schiller had worked in London, and was acquainted with the 'admirable author of the Theory of Moral Sentiments, whose personal appreciation and friendship he counted among the happiest circumstances of his life' [preface to second volume, translated]. He obviously maintained his connections in London, for he explains the delayed appearance of the second volume by his expectation that Smith, given the level of demand for his book, would quickly prepare a second edition taking account of comments from both English and German readers. However, Smith had returned to Edinburgh from London and taken a post there as Commissioner for Customs, which development prompted Schiller to proceed with his second volume, hoping that he could summarize the eventual revisions in a later supplement" (Tribe, p. 125).Smith's corrected text did not appe

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