Sciences economiques

Small octavo. Pp. iv, 356. Half-title present. Original printed wrappers, spine panel bit frayed. In fine condition. ~ First separate edition. Excellent copy, extremely rare in the original publisher's wrappers, untrimmed and preserved entirely in the original state. First published in 1804 as part of "Eléments d'idéologie", the work was titled "Traité de la volonté". (Palgrave 1894-1901). Antoine Louis Claude, Comte Destutt de Tracy (1754-1836), French senator, philosopher, and economist. An important intellectual leader during the time of Napoleon, he had been a member of the States-General (1789) and the Senate. Besides philosophical works influenced by Condillac, he wrote "Traité d'économie politique", his only major work on economics. Production meant for him a change in form or place. Value, he said, must be expressed in units of value, but he himself did not recommend a specific unit of measurement. (Mai, p. 70). Thomas Jefferson made the American people acquainted with Destutt de Tracy's work through his translation of the unpublished French original. Revised and corrected by himself, it was published as "A Treatise on Political Economy" (Georgetown, Joseph Milligan, 1817). Goldsmith 23731. Kress C.1051. Einaudi 1547. A most attractive copy.