[MIRABEAU, Victor de Riquetti, Marquis de].

Leçons œconomiques par L. D. H. [L'Ami des Hommes] ...

Amsterdam, n. p., 1770. [bound with:] LE TROSNE, Guillaume-François. Recueil de plusieurs morçeauxéconomiques, principalement sur la Concurrence des Etrangers dans le transport de nos grains. Amsterdam and Paris, Desaint, 1768.Two works in one vol., small 8vo, pp. [4], lvii, [1] errata, 216; [iv], 236, 4 (Pissot bookseller’s catalogue); occasional light browning, else very good copies in contemporary full mottled calf, scraped in places, red edges, spine stamped gilt in compartments, worn at foot, with a gilt lettering-piece. A fine pairing of popularizing works by two of the leading Physiocrat writers. Both are rare.I: First edition, second impression, of this Physiocratic catechism, published the same year as the first issue, containing for the first time (on pp. [xlv]–lvii) Moreau’s views, in his new role as censeur spécial, on the works of the Physiocrats. The reissue also has a cancel title-page, featuring a different vignette from the one illustrated in Tchemerzine.Jacob Nicolas Moreau (1717–1804), ‘publiciste du pouvoir, apôtre du despotisme et du pouvoir arbitraire’ (Quérard), was a lawyer and official of the Cour des Comptes of Provence and then a littérateur before pursuing a highly successful court career, becoming principal advisor to the Prince (later Louis XVIII), librarian to Marie-Antoinette, and Louis XVI’s historiographer and keeper of charts, monuments, and royal ordinances. He was given his role as censor by Maupeou at the beginning of 1770 and was initially favourable to the ideas of the philosophes, as can be seen in his ‘véritable “profession de foi” sur la doctrine des Economistes’ in the present work. However, such support was to last but a few months, when, in June, Moreau withdrew his earlier approbation: ‘J’exhorte de nouveau les auteurs de ce journal [i.e. Ephémérides du Citoyen] à résister à la tentation de critiquer. Le bonheur du citoyen tient à la confiance. On peut et l’on doit quelquefois avertir en secret ceux qui sont préposés à l’administration; mais on ne doit prêcher aux particuliers que leur propre réforme, et non celle de l’Etat’. See Weulersse I, 237f.Goldsmiths’ 10609; Higgs 4859; INED 3200; Tchemerzine IV, 755; not in Einaudi or Kress; OCLC locates copies at Chicago and Stanford only.II: First edition: ‘On a réuni dans ce Volume plusieurs morceaux qui traitent de la question de la concurrence des Etrangers dans la navigation, ou qui y ont un rapport direct’ (advertisement).Goldsmiths’ 10397; Higgs 4363; INED 2880; Kress 6571; not in Einaudi; OCLC locates copies at Chicago and New York Public Library only.

• GBP 5,750.00 > Andere Währungen
• Bestellnummer: H650.1

• Antiquariat: Bernard Quaritch Ltd. (GREAT BRITAIN)