Books

1801. SMITH, Adam. The Theory of Moral Sentiments… To Which Is Added, A Dissertation on the Origin of Languages. London: Printed for T. Cadell jun. and W. Davies, 1801. Two volumes. Octavo, contemporary full speckled calf gilt. $3500.1801 edition of Smith's pioneering first book, a work which he himself ranked above Wealth of Nations and which served as its foundation, both works demonstrating ""a greater unifying principle…Smith's ethics and his economics are integrated by the same principle of self-command, or self-reliance, which manifests itself in economics in laissez faire"" (Spiegel), scarce in contemporary calf.The Theory of Moral Sentiments laid the foundation on which The Wealth of Nations was later to be built and proposed the theory which would be repeated in the later work: that self-seeking men are often ""led by an invisible hand… without knowing it, without intending it, to advance the interest of the society."" ""The fruit of his Glasgow years… The…