Description
The theory of moral sentiments. London: A. Millar; Edinburgh, A. Kincaid and J. Bell, 1759. First edition, 8vo, with half-title and errata, mispagination pp. 317-377 as 337, etc., contemporary half calf, red morocco lettering piece, marbled boards, armorial bookplate of George Fairholme of Greenknow, inserted at the front is a 2 page Ms. extract [dating to post 1850], from observations of Archbishop Magee on the present work and comments by Lord Brougham in his Life of Hume, rubbed, joints cracking, corners worn, p. 263 with small, neat, earlier marginal repair (not affecting text), one or two Ms corrections to the text, some very slight staining of last couple of leaves and lower endpapers
Footnote
Provenance: George Fairholme of Greenknow, (1789-1846) land owner, banker, traveller, naturalist and scriptural geologist.
Note: Kress 5815; Goldsmiths' Library 9537; ESTC T141578. Extremely rare first edition of Smith's pioneering first book and the foundation of his monumental Wealth of Nations, both seminal works demonstrating "a great 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, Growth of economic thought, 229-231). The publication of Theory of Moral Sentiments "first carried his fame to the outside world." (PMM 221)