London, printed for Thomas Astley, 1742

Sixth edition, first published in 1686, this issue was sometimes also published with a separate title page and imprint reading, ‘The money’d man’s pocket-book’, London, 1742’ immediately preceding the title-page of the second part. A series of tables calculating the amounts owed on leases based...

£125

Verona, Dionisio Ramanzini, 1780.

A lovely copy of the second edition, considerably augmented from the first of 1754, of this book of applied mathematical problems by the Veronese mathematician Gaetano Marzaglia (or Marcegaglia, 1716–1787), heavily influenced by the work of Wolff, who provides the motto to the book, and whose works...

£650

London, printed and sold by T. Harrison … and by J. Robson … 1765.

First edition, an unjustly neglected study of the politics and economics of international trade, inspired in part by comparison with France, where Mildmay spent five years in the 1750s.

£350

Amsterdam, Jacob van Meurs, 1668. 

First edition in Latin, beautifully illustrated, of Nieuhof’s account of his travels in China between 1655 and 1657, one of the most important early modern non-Jesuit studies. 

£5000

Leiden, Jacob de Meurs, 1665. 

Lavishly illustrated first French edition of Nieuhof’s travels through China from 1655 to 1657. 

£3500

London: Printed by T. Grismond, and are to be sold by T. Robinson … in Oxon. 1658.

First edition of Osborne’s history of the reigns of Elizabeth I and James VI and I, two exemplary leaders of the Protestant English cause, with which Osborne was much taken in his works.

£475

Lisbon and Lucca, (vols. 3–4: ‘e si vende da Giuseppe Bouchard librajo francese in Firenze’), 1765–66.

First edition, scarce on the market, of a highly important work in the history of economics and world trade. Pagnini (1714–89) worked in the financial department of the Tuscan government and published translations of several of Locke’s works. The Della decima is his most important work,...

£5500

[Besançon?, 1772?] 

A seemingly unrecorded issue of this decree governing tariffs on paper and cardboard in Louis XV’s France, with no imprint but with the colophon ‘fait à Besançon le 18 avril 1772, signé, Lacoré’. 

£175

London, printed by E. P. for R. Wilkin … 1704.

First edition of this important but little-studied work on free trade for the public good by the physician and political writer Peter Paxton.

£900

London, printed for H.M. and sold by J. Whitlock, 1695.

First edition. The Royal Fishery Company, incorporated in 1662, had great trouble finding subscribers. Initially, Charles II offered £9000 as an incentive to investors but on these only raising £3680 he withdrew his undertaking, instead allowing a lottery to aid the Company’s fortunes. After attempts...

£200

London, E. Whitlock, 1698.

First edition; a French version appeared the same year. Since its foundation in 1688, the Royal Lustring Company (importers of ‘lustrings’ or ‘alamodes’ – a fine, light, glossy, black silk) had enjoyed special monopolistic privileges which it had exploited to the full. However, by the end...

£275

Paris, chez les marchands de nouveautés, 1821.

Rare first edition of this work on Parisian prostitution, attributed to the writer and journalist Émile Marco de Sainte-Hilaire (1796–1887). The Réclamation is presented as a letter from the prostitute Modeste Agnès to the newly-appointed Paris chief of police, Guy Delavau (1787–1874),...

£850

Paris, chez Valade; Brussels, chez Emmanuel Flon, 1774.

£100

Seville, 25 July 1576.

A commercial document from the heyday of Seville’s trade with the Indies. Drawn up for Sebastián de Baeza, a resident of the barrio of San Bartolomé in Seville, the document recapitulates a previous agreement of 25 June 1576 between, on the one hand, Hernán López de Segovia and, on...

£1200

Leiden, Nicolaes van Geelkercken, 1619.

First Latin edition of one of the classic Dutch illustrated voyages, identical in format and illustration to the same publisher’s Dutch-language edition of the same year.

£20000

[Paris, Bourgogne & Martinet, n. d., but 1840.]

First and only edition of this work on the sugar beet trade; the French had begun cultivating sugar beet during the Napoleonic wars, when the British blocked shipments of cane sugar from colonies such as Martinique and Guadeloupe.

£100

London, Effingham Wilson, 1836.

Third edition, corrected and expanded to reflect changes in the monetary systems of Portugal and Geneva, a new coinage introduced by the East India Company and the opening of trade with China. There is also a new appendix which discusses the mintage regulations for the coins of the United States, reflecting...

£125

Nottingham, Fine Stocking Manufacturers Ltd., June 1953.

An unusual coronation souvenir. The details on the lower wrapper indicate that Oswald Taylor produced the booklet, as well as photographed the series.

£300

London, John Murray, 1823.

First edition of Tooke's first work, discussing the influence of climatic conditions and changing demand on agricultural prices. ‘During the three years which followed the Resumption Act of 1819 prices of nearly all commodities decreased, and the opinion that the fall in prices was the result of the...

£750

London, Effingham Wilson, 1834.

Second, expanded edition of this tract on reforming the duties on tea imported from China to Britain, this copy presented to the Sinologist Sir George T. Staunton, member of the Select Committee on Tea Duties and author of the letter appended here, likely with his annotations and corrections; bound...

£850