«Merge Record #»«Title» - Schulz-Falster Rare Books

First collected edition, uncommon, containing Verri's two important works on
philosophy and aesthetics, his reflections on individual and collective happiness, and
his most important economic work, his Meditazioni sull'economia politica, first
published in 1771. At the centre of his writings are his reflections on luxury, on
happiness, on the interpretation of laws, on economic liberalism and on the need for
a radical modernisation of lifestyles and customs. They are a testament of one of the
outstanding figures of Italy's cultural renewal.
'Verri's Reflections is a complete treatise on political economy, reminiscent of
Turgot's work (1766) with its tight logical framework and division into fairly short
sections. Although these cover a wide range of subjects, they are interconnected by
the basic theme of the work, the increase in annual reproduction of the nation
through trade of surplus product which Verri related to the balance of production
and consumption. … Some features of this analysis may be specifically noted… His
emphasis on supply and demand (used to determine all prices including the rate of
interest) combined with references to utility and scarcity in the context of value
(section 4) explains why this part of his work has been linked with marginalist
economics. … Verri's Reflections were highly regarded when they appeared, and
could be found, for example, in Smith's library (Groenewegen in New Palgrave, IV p.
807). Schumpeter praises Verri as 'a true econometrician - for example, he was one of
the first economists to figure out a balance of payments - that is to say, he knew how
to weave fact-finding and theory into a coherent tissue: the methodological problem
that agitated later generations of economists he had successfully solved for himself'
(Schumpeter, p. 178).
Cossa I, 131; Einaudi 5875; Goldsmiths'-Kress 12128; Mattioli 3731.
81.
[VERRI, Pietro.] Essai sur les Principes Politiques de l'Économie
Publique. Par M. D. Browne Dignan. London, A. Grant, 1776.
£ 450
8vo, pp. iv, [3]-66, 61-188; very clean and crisp in contemporary
sprinkled boards, spine label lettered in manuscript; a fine copy.
Curiously this adaptation was published under the name of Browne Dignan, and
fulsomely dedicated to the Count Rochford, without any reference to the fact that it
is in fact a translation. The text is clearly based on the earlier translation, with some
omissions, and a few changes (see Venturi Europe des Lumières, p. 258-9).
ESTC n45760 (Cambridge Trinity College, St Patrick's College Library, and Harvard
only); Carpenter XXV, 9; Weller II, p. 200.
The Founder of the History of Ideas
82.