Typographie

26145 — A Paris, Chez la Veuve Estienne et Fils, 1741. With nice head- and tailpieces. 3 volumes. (8), xxvii, (1), 544 pp., (545)-1140 numbered columns; (4) pp., 1772 numbered columns; (4) pp., 1316, 684 numbered columns. Folio. Contemporary marbled calf, spines gilt with raised bands, red labels with gilt lettering, red edges, joints, head and foot of spine and some corners repaired. Kress 4584; Goldsmiths 7819; not in Einaudi; not in INED. Jacques Savary (1622-1690) was for some time director of the French Royal Domains, and later became general business agent to the Duke of Mantua. He had such sound notions about commerce and was so successful in his operations that Colbert appointed him in 1670 in the "Conseil de la Reforme", which was to reform and refine the rules of commercial practice. The "Commercial Code" of 1673 resulting from it was called after him "Code Savary". He was then also pressed to write down and publish all his commercial knowledge, which pressure led to the publication of the famous Le parfait Négociant (1675). It taught everything a merchant should know, but only his left papers revealed to the world the immense and universal knowledge on commerce Savary possessed. The dictionary was immensely successful and covers all aspects of commerce and trade as well as legal and historical matters. Deals among others with: trading cities throughout the world, their manufactures, operation of foreign trade, trading companies (including a short history of the South Sea Company), banking (including an account of John Law's Bank), bookkeeping, etc. etc. The dictionary was the first of its kind to appear in Europe, and has furnished the principal part of the material for most of the dictionaries that were to follow. The project was sponsored by the French government who justly considered that such a dictionary, if well executed, would be of national importance. Hence a considerable, and indeed the most valuable portion of the work is compiled from memoirs sent to the author, by order of government, by the inspectors of manufactures in France and by the French consuls in foreign countries (see: McCulloch, p. 61). The dictionary is preceded, in volume one, by an elaborate, long (upto column 544) separate essay on the "État général du commerce de l'Europe" (and followed by other essays on the continents of Africa, Asia and the Americas). Ooii -Vviv in volume three with a wormtrack in the upper outer blank margin.