De l’ordre social, ouvrage suivi d'un traité élémentaire sur la valeur, l'argent, la circulation, l'industrie & le commmerce sic intérieur & extérieur. … |

Item #417 De l’ordre social, ouvrage suivi d'un traité élémentaire sur la valeur, l'argent, la circulation, l'industrie & le commmerce [sic] intérieur & extérieur. […]. Guillaume-François Le Trosne.

Le Trosne, Guillaume-François

De l’ordre social, ouvrage suivi d'un traité élémentaire sur la valeur, l'argent, la circulation, l'industrie & le commmerce [sic] intérieur & extérieur. […].

Paris: Chez les Frères Debure, 1777. First edition. In contemporary leather. Gilt spine with green title vignette. Marbled fore-edge. (8º) a–b8, A–Gg8, Hh4; (5), VI–XXXI, (2), 2–488 p. Occasional underlines and marginal signs in ink and pencil. Binding somewhat worn, overall a good copy.

Scarce first edition of Le Trosne’s treatise on Physiocracy.

In “De l’ordre social”, Le Trosne sets out the main principles of Physiocracy, the “Government of Nature”, that is considered as the first school of thought in economics. They believed that the wealth of nations was derived from the value of “land agriculture” and the agricultural products should be highly priced. In the second part of the book (Discours […] sur la liberté du Commerce des Grains) Le Trosne demanding the liberation of grain trade within France.

Guillaume-François Le Trosne (1728–1780) was a French jurist and economist, founding member of the Société royale d’agriculture (Royal Agricultural Society), one a leading theorists of Physiocracy, considered as the father of political economy in France. His studies mostly focusing on practical issues and tax problems. He is known as the author of the essay “Reflexions Politiques […]” (1777) that “traced – perhaps for the first time – a parallel between Russia and the now independent USA as two nations that would probably overcome Europe soon, the latter by means of freedom, free trade and property, the former through the absolute rule of an enlightened monarch.” (Adamovsky).

[Bibl: Adamovsky, E.: Euro-Orientalism. Liberal Ideology and the image of Russia in France (c. 1740-1880). Oxford - New York: Peter Lang, 1986.]