To which is prefixed, an accounts of the life and writings of the author; by Dugald Stewart, F.R.S.E.
London, printed for T. Cadell Jun. and W. Davies (Successors to Mr. Cadell) in the strand; and W. Creech, Edinburgh, 1795
Early mention of the 'invisible hand'. The first edition of these posthumously published 'philosophical' essays by Adam Smith (d.1790) on astronomy, the history of physics, and metaphysical enquiries, including dancing, poetry, and the external senses, prefixed with an extensive life of the author by his great populariser Dugald Stewart.
These essays were left to his literary executors, his friends the physicist-chemist Joseph Black and geologist James Hutton, 'to be disposed of as they thought proper', with Smith destroying much of his other manuscript material prior to his death in an apparent effort to cultivate his posthumous reputation. They once formed part of a greater project to write 'a sort of Philosophical History of all the different branches of Literature, of Philosophy, Poetry and Eloquence [and] a sort of theory and History of Law and Government' not realised in his lifetime (Letter to Le Duc de la Rochefoucauld, 1st November 1785).
The History of Astronomy is the most advanced of these, opening with a discussion of the origin of philosophy. Thought to have been written in the 1750s before his other major works were published, it contains one of his earliest mentions of the 'invisible hand' in reference to the capricious power of the Roman god Jupiter: 'For it may be observed, that in all Polytheistic religions... it is the irregular events of nature only that are ascribed to the agency and power of their gods. Fire burns, and water refreshes; heavy body descend, and light substances fly upwards, by the necessity of their own nature; nor was the invisible hand of Jupiter apprehended to be employed in those matters' (p.25).
With excellent provenance for Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Rowland Brandreth (1794-1848), a Royal Engineer who served as Commissioner under the Boundary Act and later Director of Works to the Admiralty. In 1838 he was offered the governorship of South Australia by Lord Glenelg, but declined.
First edition; 4to (28.5 x 23 cm); armorial bookplate to front pastedown, pinhole to top-margin of Q2-2A leading to small tear 2A2-2D2, small paper flaw to P4 verso not affecting text, slight spotting to endpapers, a little offsetting to text, otherwise internally clean; contemporary mottled calf, covers ruled in gilt, gilt spine in 6 compartments, joints and spine caps restored, contrasting red morocco lettering-piece, renewed, sprinkled edges, a few marks to covers, a handsome copy; xcv, [1], 244pp.
ESTC T33499; Goldsmith's 16218; Rothschild 1902; Adam Smith Correspondence p.287,
These essays were left to his literary executors, his friends the physicist-chemist Joseph Black and geologist James Hutton, 'to be disposed of as they thought proper', with Smith destroying much of his other manuscript material prior to his death in an apparent effort to cultivate his posthumous reputation. They once formed part of a greater project to write 'a sort of Philosophical History of all the different branches of Literature, of Philosophy, Poetry and Eloquence [and] a sort of theory and History of Law and Government' not realised in his lifetime (Letter to Le Duc de la Rochefoucauld, 1st November 1785).
The History of Astronomy is the most advanced of these, opening with a discussion of the origin of philosophy. Thought to have been written in the 1750s before his other major works were published, it contains one of his earliest mentions of the 'invisible hand' in reference to the capricious power of the Roman god Jupiter: 'For it may be observed, that in all Polytheistic religions... it is the irregular events of nature only that are ascribed to the agency and power of their gods. Fire burns, and water refreshes; heavy body descend, and light substances fly upwards, by the necessity of their own nature; nor was the invisible hand of Jupiter apprehended to be employed in those matters' (p.25).
With excellent provenance for Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Rowland Brandreth (1794-1848), a Royal Engineer who served as Commissioner under the Boundary Act and later Director of Works to the Admiralty. In 1838 he was offered the governorship of South Australia by Lord Glenelg, but declined.
First edition; 4to (28.5 x 23 cm); armorial bookplate to front pastedown, pinhole to top-margin of Q2-2A leading to small tear 2A2-2D2, small paper flaw to P4 verso not affecting text, slight spotting to endpapers, a little offsetting to text, otherwise internally clean; contemporary mottled calf, covers ruled in gilt, gilt spine in 6 compartments, joints and spine caps restored, contrasting red morocco lettering-piece, renewed, sprinkled edges, a few marks to covers, a handsome copy; xcv, [1], 244pp.
ESTC T33499; Goldsmith's 16218; Rothschild 1902; Adam Smith Correspondence p.287,
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