Books

The final lifetime edition of Adam Smith's first book, presented to the Scottish jurist and Enlightenment philosopher Allan Maconochie, inscribed on the title page verso, "Allan Maconochie Esquire From the Author," by a secretary, the recipient, or a family member. The recipient Allan Maconochie, Lord Meadowbank (1748-1816), was a Scottish judge and founding member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He was Regius Professor of Public Law and the Law of Nature and Nations in the University of Edinburgh from 1779 to 1796. His academic focus was linking political institutions to their geographic situation and the character of the peoples, a project "typical of the Scottish Enlightenment" (ODNB), culminating in his 1784 publication Essay on the Origin and Progress of the European Legislatures. The only surviving copy of notes from Smith's lectures at Glasgow originated from the Maconochie family (published under Edwin Cannan's editorship in 1896) - Ross speculates Maconochie acquired it as an aid to preparing his own course (Ross, p. 122). Mizuta details another book, a volume of Condorcet's tracts, with a similar inscription recording a presentation from Smith to Maconochie in 1790 (Mizuta, p. 15). The copy was afterward in the library of his son James Allan Meadowbank (died 1845), with his bookplate to the front pastedown and his ownership signatures to the front free endpapers and half-titles, the latter dated 1805. The aforementioned copy of Smith's lecture notes also had his signature. The Theory of Moral Sentiments was first published in 1759. This was the first edition to be printed in two volumes, and, with Smith's extensive additions and revisions, it represents both the definitive text and the summation of his philosophical thought. Adam Smith's last recorded letter of 25 May 1790 to Thomas Cadell reveals he received 12 copies of the sixth edition, evidently for presentation (Mossner & Ross, p. 325). READ MORE Two volumes, octavo (212 x 125 mm). Contemporary calf, rebacked, preserving red morocco labels. Extremities and inner hinges neatly restored, offsetting from turn-ins, lightly toned. A very good copy. ESTC T90661; Goldsmiths' 14580; Kress B.1988; Jessop, p. 170; Tribe 36; Vanderblue, p. 38. Jürg Niehans, A History of Economic Theory: Classic Contributions, 1720-1980, 1994; Hiroshi Mizuta, Adam Smith's Library A Supplement to Bonar's Catalogue with a Ch