‎THORNTON, H.‎
‎Recherches sur la nature et les effets du Crédit du papier dans la Grande-Bretagne, par Henri Thornton, M.P. Traduit de l'Anglais.‎

‎A Genève, De L'Impr. de la Bibliothèque Britannique, et se trouve chez Manget, J.J. Paschoud, et à Paris, Magimel, An XI (1803. v.st.) viii, 270 pp. 8vo. Contemporary polished calf, spine gilt in compartments, label with gilt lettering, a few minor blemishes. Goldsmiths 18731; not in Kress, Einaudi or Mattioli; Blaug, Great Economists before Keynes, p. 242. The very rare first French edition. Blaug calls this 'the greatest work of the nineteenth century on monetary theory'. It gives a comprehensive account of the workings of the money market at the date of its publication, and of the attitude in which the Bank of England stood towards the rest of the commercial world. He insists that over-issue would depreciate the value of notes, but does not consider that the bank issue of the Bank of England is excessive. This treatise contained 'a greater amount of practical and useful information with respect to pecuniary transactions carried on in the country than had ever previously been communicated to the public' (McCulloch). 'His Enquiry into the Nature and Effects of the Paper Credit of Great Britain (1802) is an amazing performance. ..... it anticipated in some points the analytic developments of a century to come' (Schumpeter, History of Economic Analysis, pp. 718-724, among others.) "..... his outstanding treatise, An Enquiry into the Nature and Effects of the Paper Credit of Great Britain (1802), gives him a strong claim to be regarded as the most important contributor to monetary economics between David Hume (1752) and Knut Wicksell (1898). Only David Ricardo could seriously be regarded as a rival here" (New Palgrave, iv, p. 634). The first English edition was published in 1802, in 1803 the French and German translations were published, both very rare. This French translation was done by Etienne Dumont, the famous translator into French of many works by Jeremy Bentham.Thornton was one of the founders of the Clapham Sect of evangelical reformers and a foremost campaigner for the abolition of the slave trade. A close friend and cousin of William Wilberforce, he is credited with being the financial brain behind their many campaigns for social reform and philanthropic causes which the group supported. For some years Thornton and Wilberforce shared a house called Battersea Rise which Thornton had bought in 1792. The cousins spent much time here co-coordinating their activities and entertaining their friends. After their marriages in 1796-97 they continued to live and work in close proximity for another decade.In 1791 Thornton played a major part in the establishment of the Sierra Leone Company, which took over the failed attempt by Granville Sharp to create a colony for the settlement of freed slaves in Africa. A nice clean copy with good margins. ‎

Reference : 27181

‎‎