Rare first edition of a fundamental work on political economy, by the French economist Jean-Baptiste Say (1767-1832), who was among the first to divide the field of economics into the areas of production, distribution, and consumption. "Say is usually ranked with A. Smith and Ricardo amongst the fathers of economic science ... He was in the true sense of the word the leader of a school - of the liberal and optimistic school, the influence of which was so great in France ... and is even now felt. It is he, more than any other writer, who impressed on political economy the character of a natural science" (Palgrave).
The work was immediately a grand success, but several passages had to be changed at the instructions of Napoleon. When Say refused to do so, the work was prohibited and only republished after Napoleon's first exile in 1814. Eventually 32 editions appeared. Say was best known for his "law of markets", which postulates that supply creates its own demand. With the present work, he offered a new point of view on the prevailing classical economic thought of that moment, and gave a very liberal analysis of the economical elements and principals, concentrating everything on the subject of the principal of production. Of additional importance was his emphasis on utility as the determinant of value. Together with Adam Smith's The wealth of nations (1776), the present work is considered the most popular economic text of the first half of the 19th century.
With the bookplate of Reghaia, La Motte Billard mounted on the front pastedown of both volumes. The edges and corners of the boards are somewhat scuffed. The work is slightly browned and foxed throughout. Otherwise in good condition. Einaudi 5118; En français dans le texte 207; Goldsmiths' library 18616; Kress B.4729; Schumpeter, pp. 492-3; Palgrave III, pp. 357-8.