Catalogue Number 7 - Susanne Schulz-Falster

Spanish Economic Policy
10 [CAPMANY Y DE MONTPALAU, Antonio de.] Discurso
Economico-Politico en Defensa del Trabajo mecánico de los
menestrales, y de la inXuencia de sus gremios en las costumbres
populares, conservacion de las artes, y honor de los artesanos. Por
Don Ramon Miguel Palacio. Madrid, En la Imprenta de D. Antonio
de Sancha, 1778. £800
8vo, pp. [viii], 63; nineteenth century marbled calf-backed boards,
spine lettered in manuscript; a very crisp copy.
First edition, very uncommon, of this forceful defence of the Spanish guild
system by arguably the most important eighteenth-century Spanish economic
historian. Capmany dedicates his publication to Campomanes, and
cites extensively from Robertson’s History of America. He describes the social
and political situation of the artisan and labourer, and evokes the ‘honour’
of the labourer, which he maintains is little appreciated in Spain. He
compares the situation to China or ancient Greece, where these professions
were held in the esteem they deserve. In addition to giving some information
on trade rules and customs, he argues for the preservation of ancient
guild rules and the guild system because of the beneWt for industry and the
economy.
Antonio de Capmany y de Montpalau (1742–1813), a historian and
economist published extensively on literature and economics. His subsequent
publication, Memórias historicas sobre la marina, comercio y artes
(1779–92) is regarded as the Wrst economic history of Spain. It was praised
by McCulloch, who used the work as the basis for the section on Spain in
his Geographical Dictionary.
Colmeiro p. 65; Palau y Dulcet, 43369; OCLC locates just one copy at Duke, not
in Kress or Goldsmiths’.
First Complete Edition
11 CARLI, Giovanni Rinaldo. Le Lettere Americane, Nuova
Edizione corretta ed ampliata colla Aggiunta della Parte III. ora per
la prima volta impresa. Parte Prima [–Parte Terza]. Cremona, per
Lorenzo Manini, 1781–83. £1000
Three parts in one volume, 8vo, pp. [viii], xxiv, 232, [6] contents [2]
blank; 269, [1] blank, [10] contents page, 1 large folding engraved
map, 213, [3] contents page; bound in contemporary full vellum, giltlettered
spine label; a very clean and crisp copy.
First complete edition of Carli’s classic study of early American history,
dedicated to Benjamin Franklin. Carli’s Lettere Americane gives a philosophical
view of the European perception of America, and transfers the
philanthropic principles of the Enlightenment to the ruins of a vanished
civilisation. Carli writes not of the revolutionary turmoil of the north of
susanne schulz-falster rare books catalogue seven
America, but of the world of great primitive empires, the monarchy of the
Incas, as a kind of blueprint for the government of Maria Theresa and
Joseph II. He identiWes the solution for inequality and impending class
conXict in European society in the power of a sovereign or monarch who
could guard against despotism but at the same time defend civil society
against anarchy. This historical work illustrates the same points he made in
his refutation of Rousseau’s theories in his L’Uomo Libero.
Carli’s Lettere Americane was very popular, distributed widely both in
France and in Germany, and became a classic ‘which today still permits us to
measure what is similar and what is diVerent in the French, American, and
Imperial visions of the New World in the Wrst year so of the (seventeen)
eighties’ (Venturi, I, p. 49). Utopian ideas are found in the third volume,
which completes the work and is here present for the Wrst time. Carli reviews
Plato’s Lettres sur l’Atlantide in the translation by Bailly, and expands
on the Atlantis theme by sketching the basics of a utopian society.
See Sabin 10911 for Wrst edition.
12 CASTEL de SAINT-PIERRE, Charles-Iréné abbé de. Abrégé
du Projet de Paix Perpetuelle, Inventé par le Roi Henri le Grand,
Aprouvé par la Reine Elisabeth, par le Roi Jaques son successeur, par
les Republiques & par divers autres Potentats. Aproprié à l’Etat
present des AVaires générales de l’Europe. Démontré inWniment
avantageux pour tous les Hommes nés & à naître, en general & en
particulier pour tous les Souverains, & pour les Maisons
Souveraines. A Rotterdam, chez Jean Daniel Beman, et se vend à
Paris chez Briasson, 1729. £650
8vo, pp. xiv, 227, [3]; title printed in red and black; occasional light
browning; contemporary mottled calf, spine gilt in compartments, giltlettered
spine label; discreet repairs to lower joint, corners a little worn;
an attractive copy.
First edition of the abridgement of Castel de Saint-Pierre’s famous peace
proposal, Wrst circulated in manuscript and published between 1713 and
1717. In fact this is not just a condensed version of the original work, but
includes Castel de Saint-Pierre’s further considerations and his response to
contemporary criticism.
Saint-Pierre had joined Polignac, the French ambassador, as secretary in
the diYcult peace negotiations of Utrecht which concluded the great European
war of the Spanish succession, and this proposal for ‘eternal peace’
between political powers was the direct outcome of this experience, even
though he had started working on this text as early as 1708. Saint-Pierre
proposed the establishment of a ‘European parliament’, with its seat at
Utrecht, which would peacefully settle conXicts between states. It would be
a parliament composed of representatives of all European states; European
borders would be guaranteed, and any diVerences arising between states
would be solved in negotiations.