1855 – Treatise on Political Economy, Jean-Baptiste Say | American Politics

Jean Baptiste Say was a French economist at the turn of the 18th-century. He was an important figure in the development of competitive free trade in Europe. He is most well-known today for “Say’s Law” which is summed up as:

• “Aggregate supply creates its own aggregate demand”,
• “Supply creates its own demand”,
• “Supply constitutes its own demand”,
• “If you build it, they will come”,
• “Inherent in supply is the wherewithal for its own consumption”.

Say’s Treaty of Political Economy is often considered the most important work of economic literature in the first half of the 19th-century, next to ‘Wealth of Nations.’

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A Treatise on Political Economy: or, the Production, Distribution, and Consumption of Wealth
• Author(s): Jean-Baptiste Say
• Publisher: Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co.
• Edition: New American edition. 1855.
• Binding: Modern Leather
• Format: (8vo), single volume
• Size:  9.25 in x 6 in (23.5 cm x 15.2 cm)
• Collation: 488 pp., [16]
• Illustrations:
• Contents Include:
  • Production
  • Distribution
  • Consumption

Condition:

Near Fine. Leather binding is firm and recently updated. Marbled boards present cleanly. Text block is solid with light age toning throughout. Pages are complete, with no marks or damage.

Why Collect This?

• Includes one of the earliest American printings of Say’s Law
• Economically significant as a peer work to Adam Smith
• Recommended for collectors focused on economic history

Item Number: # 29651