THE FIRST BIOGRAPHY OF ADAM SMITH
[SMITH, Adam.] [STEWART, Dugald.]
Account of the life and writings of Adam Smith, LL.D. From the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
[Edinburgh? N.p. 1794?].
4to, pp. 85, [1, blank]; half-title somewhat dust-stained, small marginal hole to this and one other leaf, occasional marginalia and underlining; a crisp clear copy bound into a quarto nonce collection (see below) in half calf with marbled boards, red morocco lettering-piece, boards a little rubbed, joints cracking but cords still strong, extremities worn; ownership inscription on half title (see below); a sound copy.
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Account of the life and writings of Adam Smith, LL.D. From the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
First separate edition of the first ‘Life’ of Adam Smith, and one of only a handful of copies that were printed for limited private issue. A year later, it was incorporated into the Essays on Philosophical Subjects, and later in editions of the Wealth of Nations. Stewart (1753-1828) read the paper before the Royal Society of Edinburgh in two sessions, 21 January and 18 March 1793, and it then appeared in the Society’s Transactions 3/1, 55-137.
Stewart ‘collected useful facts on Smith’s life and background, and preserved otherwise unavailable materials, such as the extract from the 1755 paper presenting key ideas dating back to the Edinburgh lectures and anticipating The Wealth of Nations. He offers a shrewd commentary on that book, also on The Theory of Moral Sentiments, indicating how contemporaries read these works. Most helpfully he discerns their unity, finding in them a “particular sort of inquiry” further illustrated in the essays on the History of Astronomy and the First Formation of Languages’ (Ross, Life of Adam Smith, p. 410f).
Provenance: A nonce collection of fourteen separately printed pamphlets, several of which, including Stewart’s Life of Smith, bear ownership inscriptions of Alexander Fraser Tytler (1747-1813), ‘usually styled Lord Woodhouselee’ (Chambers, p. 464). An annotated and numbered list of contents on the verso of front free endpaper is also in Tytler’s hand. This collection is eclectic, entitled ‘Miscellanies’ by the lettering-piece on its spine, it was arguably compiled by Tytler. Tytler was a polymath who taught and published on history, translation and literature was well as law, which was his principle profession and in which he particularly excelled, acceding to the ‘justiciary bench’ in 1811 (Chambers, p. 466). The pamphlets herein reflect his varied interests and contain a biography of his father, William Tytler (1711-1792) and of his friend, Lord Abercromby. Dugald Stewart and another featured author, Henry Mackenzie are known to have been acquaintances of Tytler (Chambers, p. 464). A later ownership inscription to front free endpaper and light pencil marginalia belong to Professor Douglas Grant (1922-1969). The other works in this sammelband are on the whole crisp and clear, they comprise:
[UNKNOWN]. The will of King Alfred. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1788.
4to, pp. [2, title-page, blank], iii, [1, blank], 51, [1, errata]; occasional minor offsetting and show-through, with dust staining on errata; ‘Mr. Fraser Tytler’ inscribed to title page.
[MACKENZIE, Henry]. An account of the life and writings of William Tytler, esq.: From the transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. [Edinburgh? N.p. 1797?].
4to, pp. [2, half-title, blank], 18.
[MACKENZIE, Henry]. An account of the life of Lord Abercromby: From the transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. [Edinburgh? N.p. 1797?].
4to, pp. [2, half-title, blank], 15, [3, blank].
GLEIG, George. A short account of the life and opinions of Archibald Earl of Kellie. Edinburgh, John Brown, 1797.
4to, pp. 12; this work cut slightly smaller than the others in the collection; verso of title-page bears the inscription in Tytler’s hand, ‘From Lady Anne Erskine to AFT.’
[IMRIE, Major]. A short mineralogical description of the mountain of Gibraltar. [Einburgh? N.p. 1798?].
4to, pp. [2, half-title, blank],12, [2, blank]; ownership inscription ‘from the author to AFT’ on verso of half-title, slight offsetting of this onto p.1.
[ANON]. The private correspondence of Dr Francis Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester, and his friends, in 1725: Never before published. [N.p. n.p.] 1768.
4to, pp. iv, 10, [1, plate].
KNIGHT, R.P. The landscape, a didactic poem: In three books. London, W. Bulmer, 1794.
4to, pp. [4, half-title, blank, title-page, blank], 77, [1, blank]; three engraved folding plates. Ownership inscription to title page ‘Alex. Fraser Tytler’.
PLUMPTRE, James. Osway: A tragedy. Norwich, Norfolk Press, 1795.
4to, pp. [8], 78, [2, errata, blank]; preliminaries comprise half-title, title-page, dedication (to the Rev. John Dudley, A.M.), advertisement, dramatis personae.
DALRYMPLE, David Sir. An examination of some of the arguments for the high antiquity of regiam majestatem; and an inquiry into the authenticity of leges malcolmi. Edinburgh, A. Murray and J. Cochran, 1769.
4to, pp. 52; errata on p.52.
[ANON]. Letters to the Duke of Burgundy, from Mr. De Fenelon Archbishop of Cambray. Glasgow, Robert Foulis, 1746.
4to, pp. 27, [1, advertisement]; first two leaves smaller than others; dust stained at margins on title-page, continuing to a lesser extent throughout. Extensive marginalia and underlining on p.12.
VOLTAIRE, M. de. The Maid of Orleans written by M. de Voltaire, translated from the French … canto first. London, [n.p.] 1780.
4to, pp. [4 title-page, two blanks and errata], iv, 28; ownership inscription to title page ‘From the author to his much esteemed friend Alexander Frazer Tytler Esq. of Woodhouselee … H.T.’ Loosely inserted portrait engraving of Duncan Liddell; medical practitioner, scholar and benefactor of Scottish colleges (Oxford DNB).
[ANON]. A catalogue of the lords of session, from the institution of the college of justice, in the year 1532 … [N.p., n.p.,] 1794.
4to, pp. [4, title-page, advertisement, blank on verso of each], 42; manuscript marginalia in Tytler’s hand, extensive in places.
[ANON]. A catalogue of the faculty of advocates, from the institution of the college of justice, to the revolution in 1688. [N.p., n.p., c. 1700?].
4to, pp. 8.
