The Oeconomy of Human Life.

£350 · Offered by Shapero Rare Books

An lifetime edition of this curious work by the English writer Robert Dodsley (1703-1764), which passes itself off as an English translation of an ancient Indian text found by a Chinese scholar in Lhasa. The work itself is a collection of moral aphorisms in the Enlightenment tradition, inspired by the likes of Montesquieu's Lettres Persanes, and European interest in the orient. A particularly pleasing example in contemporary sprinkled calf gilt. All early printings of this work are scarce, with ESTC recording just 4 copies of the present edition in institutional collections worldwide: 1 in the British Isles (BL), and 3 in North America (Georgetown University, University of Kansas, and University of Victoria) 12mo (13.5 x 7.5 cm); divisional title-page, MS note in pen to front free endpaper recto, B11-12 with small stain, occasional light spotting elsewhere; contemporary sprinkled calf, covers with double gilt filet border, gilt spines in 5 compartments with crosshatch design, contrasting red morocco lettering-piece to 2nd compartments small split to lower joint but holding, very good;xviii, [1], 20-185, [7]pp. ESTC N69227.

• Binding: Hardcover

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