The Theory of Moral Sentiments; [uniformly bound with:] An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.

London: For T. Cadell jun. and W. Davies; and W. Creech, and J. Bell and Co. at Edinburgh, [Wealth of Nations: Printed for T. Cadell and W. Davies,], 1801 & 1805. Smith's moral and economic thought bound together An attractive set of Smith's two key works, uniformly bound in contemporary russia, comprising the ninth edition of The Theory of Moral Sentiments, and the first Playfair edition of The Wealth of Nations, together offering a coherent and unified system of economic and moral philosophy. The Theory of Moral Sentiments, first published in 1759, "would be enough to assure the author a respected place among Scottish moral philosophers, and Smith himself ranked it above the Wealth of Nations. Its central idea is the concept, closely related to conscience, of the impartial spectator who helps man to distinguish right from wrong. For the same purpose, Immanuel Kant invented the categorical imperative and Sigmund Freud the superego" (Niehans, 62). It is in The Theory of Moral Sentiments that Smith first uses his famous "invisible hand" concept, a metaphor that he repeated in the Wealth of Nations: that self-seeking men are often "led by an invisible hand... and thus without intending it, without knowing it, advance the interest of the society" (vol. I, p. 386). The Theory of Moral Sentiments laid the groundwork for The Wealth of Nations, which is universally recognized as the foundation of modern economics; "the first and greatest classic of modern economic thought" (PMM). "The Wealth of Nations had no rival in scope or depth when published and is still one of the few works in its field to have achieved classic status, meaning simply that it has sustained yet survived repeated reading, critical and adulatory, long after the circumstances which prompted it have become the object of historical enquiry" (ODNB). The work was first published in 1776. This edition, the eleventh overall, is the first to be edited by William Playfair (1759-1823), a writer on political economy best known as the inventor of three fundamental forms of statistical graph (the time-series line graph and the bar and pie charts). Playfair paired sharp criticism of Smith's ideas with supplementary material bringing the work up to date. Two works in five volumes, octavo (212 x 126 mm). Contemporary straight-grain russia, smooth spines with wide-gilt bands forming compartments lettered and ornamented in gilt, double gilt fillet and blind border to covers, grey endpapers, marbled edges. Bound with half-titles, and terminal advertisement leaf at end of Wealth of Nations; leaf 2I7 in Wealth vol. III bound preceding 2I3. Slight rubbing and wear around joints and extremities, all bindings holding firm; terminal binder's blank with loss in Theory of Moral Sentiments vol. II; Wealth of Nations with foxing to contents, short closed tear at head of vol. I leaf N1, and short closed tear at head of terminal leaves. A very good set. Theory of Moral Sentiments: Tribe 74; Vanderblue, p. 38. Wealth of Nations: Goldsmiths' 19009; Kress B.4976; Tribe 84. See Printing and the Mind of Man 221; Jürg Niehans, A History of Economic Theory: Classic Contributions, 1720-1980, 1994; Henry William Spiegel, The Growth of Economic Thought, 1991.