Author: SMITH (John):
Title: Memoirs of Wool, Woolen Manufacture, and Trade, (Particularly in England) From the Earliest to the Present Times; With Occasional Notes, Dissertations, and Reflections. The Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged.
Description: London: Printed for the Author..., 1757, 1756. 2 volumes. 4to, pp. xxxi xxxii Errata, xxxiii -xxxvi Subscribers, xxxvi blank], 432; 449 [450 blank], contemporary mottled calf, spines gilt in compartments, morocco labels; upper front joint volume 1 cracked, binding rubbed and dried. Smith published the first edition of this work in 1747 as Chronicon Rusticum-Commercial, or memoirs of Wool, but this revised edition is a more substantial and useful work. Arthur Young, in his Annals of Agriculture claimed that its accuracy was so reliable that "scarcely any measure relative to that commodity [wool] can be stated which has not been fully explained and considered on the most liberal and enlightened principles; not deduced from vague theories, but from the clear page of ample experience." McCulloch in his Literature of Political Economy (1845) called it "one of the most carefully complied and valuable works" of its kind. Smith's topic was a timely one, as wool was one of the chief marketable commodities produced in England in the 18th century; at the time of its writing, nearly a million people in England were depended in one way or other on the production of wool. The work was republished again in 1765. Adam Smith, in the Wealth of Nations, described the author as "very accurate and intelligent" (IV, viii, 25).

Keywords: Economics agriculture prose


See more books from our catalog: Economics