QUESNAY (François)

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QUESNAY (François)
Physiocracy or Natural Constitution of the most advantageous government of the human race. - Discussions and developments on some of the notions of political economy. Leiden, Et se trouve à Paris, Merlin, 1768-1767. 2 volumes in-8, porphyry calf, smooth spine ornamented, red titles and goblets, spotted edges (Binding of the period). In French in the text, n°163. - Goldsmith, n°10277.2. First edition of this major text, considered as the bible of the school of economists. It was preceded by a first issue under the address À Pékin, of which only 3 or 4 copies are known today. Personal physician of Madame de Pompadour and academician, François Quesnay (1694-1774) is regarded as the founder of the first systematic school of scientific political economy. With his few disciples, including Dupont de Nemours, Le Trosne, Le Mercier de La Rivière, Abbé Baudeau, Turgot and Mirabeau, he developed an economic doctrine based on the idea that only the land produces wealth, that the only productive class is that of farmers, and that there are natural laws based on the principles of freedom and property that enable social order to be maintained. While recalling the strong criticism of this system at the time, Lichtenberger, in Socialism in the Eighteenth Century (pp.276-288), underlines that it was the first attempt at a scientific political economy, and a rather remarkable attempt at a universal social morality, based on the notion of usefulness and personal interest. The work is divided into two parts with continuous pagination and has a special title for the second, entitled Discussions et développemens sur quelques-unes des notions de l'économie politique... and dated 1767. Lacks the frontispiece. Binding rubbed, minor spotting on boards and spine of volume I.
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