119 - [ECONOMICS] LAW, John. Considerations on Commerce and Money.

[ECONOMICS] LAW, John. Considerations on Commerce and Money. A rare first French edition of the major work by the 18th century’s most daring monetary theorist, in an attractive signed binding. The Hague, Jean Neaulme, 1720. In-12 (97 x 155 mm), red half-maroquin with corners edged in a gold fillet, spine with raised bands accented by a gold dotted line, compartments richly decorated with a fleur-de-lis and gilded arabesque dies, author and title in gilt letters, date at the bottom, red edges. Binding signed E. Pouget. 4 unnumbered folios and 187 pages, 9 unnumbered folios (publisher’s catalog), title printed in black and red and adorned with an engraved vignette, headband, and initial. Minimal scuffing, minimal foxing and pinholes, particularly on the title page; a slight black mark on pages 114 and 115; missing the engraved frontispiece portrait. First French edition, translated by Abbé Jean-Baptiste de La Sallette, published during the author’s lifetime in the very year his famous System went bankrupt. The original English edition had been published in Edinburgh in 1705 under the title *Money and Trade Considered*. The economist John Law of Lauriston (1671–1729) won over Regent Philippe d’Orléans with his innovative monetary theories for liquidating the royal debt. After obtaining French citizenship and converting to Catholicism, the Scottish exile—who was being pursued by British authorities—was appointed Controller-General of Finances in early 1720. He thus became the architect of the famous financial system that bears his name. Believing that the state is responsible for a country’s wealth, Law advocated for the creation of a state bank, a credit system, and the circulation of paper money. It was in France that he put his ideas into practice, temporarily reviving public credit and commerce. But reckless issuance and speculative fever ultimately led to bankruptcy, and Law, having been disavowed, was forced to flee France in the very year this edition was published. His reforms nevertheless had a profound impact on the French economy, as well as on modern monetary theory, according to Joseph Schumpeter, who ranks him “among the foremost monetary theorists of all time” in his *History of Economic Analysis* (1954). [Einaudi, no. 3274 - Goldsmiths, no. 5820 - Kress, no. 3235 - Spengler, pp. 57–59.] Ex-libris with the monogram “E.W.” on the front endpaper. A copy in good condition, in a lovely late-19th-century signed binding.