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Seventh edition (stated sixth) of the first part, second edition of the second part, of Mandeville's best-known work, demonstrating, through a parable of bees renouncing all luxury and seeing their hive collapse, that the Christian ascetic philosophy cannot lead to a prosperous economy and social system, and consequently, that individual vices of vanity and greed are virtues for the community. The work originated in 1705 as a poem titled The Grumbling Hive, expanded into the first book-length edition in 1714, and revised by Mandeville in further editions. Part II, first published in 1729, matches the length of the first part, and comprises six dialogues in which Cleomenes instructs Horatio as to the Fable's true meaning. Mandeville's implication that religion was damaging to social welfare was contentious, and in 1723 the work was declared a public nuisance by the grand jury of Middlesex, and Mandeville himself accused of blasphemy. Undeterred, he addressed his accusers in the London Journal and published a pamphlet defending himself against such charges; the contents of this "Vindication" are included in the present edition of Part I (along with Mandeville's Essay on Charity Schools, claiming that educating the poor above their station was in nobody's interest, and his Search into the Nature of Society, further espousing the Fable's themes). Mandeville would spend the rest of his life justifying his work to its many critics, yet it was still characterized, well after his death, as "the wickedest cleverest book in the English language" (in the diary of Henry Crabb Robinson, June 1812). The book had an enduring influence on the science of economics, in pointing out what was self-evident to many, but never before put so boldly - that expenditure on luxuries, the incentives created by the desire for social betterment, and the need for profit, all form the basis of the economic system and social order around it. Adam Smith, though denouncing Mandeville in his Theory of Moral Sentiments, followed his central thesis that the individual's self-interest works to the good of the whole. Keynes was influenced by Mandeville in his notion of the "paradox of thrift", that withholding spending reduces demand and harms the economy. Friedrich Hayek, in a lecture of 1966 to the British Academy, called Mandeville a "Master Mind", in recognising that individuals seeking to advance their own interests create a "spontaneous order", which can form a society without the need for a controlling state. ESTC N8073 & T77578. 2 vols, octavo (191 x 121 mm). Contemporary calf, ruled in gilt with vol. numbers to third compartments, vol. I with manuscript label in second compartment. Contemporary ownership signature of one Alexander Duff to title pages. Light rubbing and slight chip at head of spine of vol. II, small loss bottom fore corner of Part I leaf L1 2D7. Very good copies.
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