TURGOT (Anne-Robert-Jacques). Reflections on the formation a - Lot 151

TURGOT (Anne-Robert-Jacques). Reflections on the formation and distribution of wealth. S.l.n.n., 1788. In-8, half marbled basane with small corners, ornate smooth spine, gilt supra-libris on tail (Binding circa 1800). First edition of the great economist's major work. It has been said that the Réflexions were the "great political economy treatise of their time". Today, we are not far from considering them as such, and Schumpeter has no hesitation in equating them with Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, which they even surpass in his eyes in terms of theoretical structure. Not only did Turgot open up new avenues for research, he also provided an incomparably fruitful analysis of economic activity (Jean Viardot in En français dans le texte, n°165). 5 contemporary texts, totalling more than 500 pages, have been bound together: - SIEYÈS. Vues sur les moyens d'exécution dont les réprésentans de la France pourront disposer en 1789. Second edition. S.l.n.n., 1789. - SIEYÈS. Qu'est-que le Tiers-État? Third edition. Title and pp. 177-180 in facsimile. - SIEYÈS. Projet d'un décret provisoire sur le clergé, &c. Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1790. - MALLET DU PLAN. Du principe des factions en général, et de celles qui divisent la France. Paris, 1791. - ROMILLY & MIRABEAU. Règlemens observés dans la chambre des commerces, pour débattre les matières & pour voter. Translated from the English. S.l., 1789. On upper flyleaf, this bookplate in ink: Mr Dumont (is this Étienne Dumont, from Geneva, who died in 1829, a friend of Mirabeau, Ricardo and Bentham?). The supra-libris on the spine is that of a certain Stephane Bayer, who noted on one of the endpapers that he bought this book in 1916. The volume, which comprises 6 works, is a highly interesting collection of economic and political reflections on the eve of the French Revolution. Binding very rubbed, spine split lengthwise.