News | August 10, 2012

Bauman Rare Books Offers Rare Adam Smith

LAS VEGAS, NV -Bauman Rare Books, the country’s premier rare and antiquarian bookseller, is offering an extremely rare copy of what is considered the Bible of modern day economics: a first edition of Adam Smith’s An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
 
According to David Bauman, proprietor and founder of Bauman Rare Books, Smith’s masterpiece (originally published in London in 1776) is considered the most important work in modern economic thought. “The Wealth of Nations represented a shift in the field of economics, similar to Sir Isaac Newton's Principia Mathematica for physics or Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species for biology,” said Bauman. “This work has become highly sought-after by collectors and institutions alike. The press run would not have exceeded 500 to 750 copies, with many of those surviving copies now permanently held by libraries and no longer in circulation for individual acquisition.”
 
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations is the masterwork of Scottish economist and moral philosopher Adam Smith. The treatise is a reflection on economics at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and argues that free market economies are more productive and beneficial to their societies.
 
Henry Thomas Buckle’s History of Civilization calls Wealth of Nations “probably the most important book which has ever been written, whether we consider the amount of original thought which it contains, or its practical influence.” English political economist J. A. R. Mariott claimed that “there is probably no single work in the language which has in its day exercised an influence so profound alike upon scientific economic thought and upon administrative action.”
 
Still recognized as an early form of what today may be called mainstream economics, Wealth of Nations was first published during the Scottish Enlightenment and the Scottish Agricultural Revolution. Smith’s work also was important to the American Revolution, and later, to the development of the new nation that offered a major application for Smith’s free-market theory.
 
Smith’s writings were widely read by America’s Founding Fathers, spurring Jefferson to write, “In political economy I think Smith’s Wealth of Nations the best book extant.” Published in the same year as the Declaration of Independence, Smith touches on the situation in America at some length, showing uncanny forethought when he describes the emerging nation as “very likely to become one of the greatest and most formidable that ever was in the world.”
 
The exceptional work has influenced a number of authors and economists, as well as governments and organizations, including Jean-Baptiste Colbert, David Ricardo, Thomas Malthus and Ludwig von Mises.
 
For more information on Bauman Rare Books and the first edition An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations visit www.baumanrarebooks.com.
 
About Bauman Rare Books
David and Natalie Bauman began their company in 1973 with their first investment in a box of 18th-century imprints, a love of literature and history, and a sense that this could be an interesting way to make a living.  Nearly 40 years later, with the addition of some 45 dedicated and talented researchers, salespersons, and creative personnel, Bauman Rare Books has evolved into one of the finest and most respected antiquarian book firms in existence today.  With locations in three great cities—Madison Avenue in New York; Center City in Philadelphia; and The Shoppes at The Palazzo in Las Vegas —the company is distinguished by its extraordinary inventory, meticulous research and exceptional customer service. Bauman has worked with both individual and corporate collectors to build some of the most extensive and impressive rare book collections in America today.  www.baumanrarebooks.com