Journal of Political Economy Vol. 9 No. 3 1901
A Bibliographical Discovery in Political Economy
Abstract
THE distinguished German economist and philanthropist, Professor Victor Bohmert, of Dresden, surprises us with the interesting discovery that even long before the time of Adam Smith "a scientific mind had not only reflected earnestly and ardently on economic problems in general, but had, in a logical manner, attempted to build up these thoughts rnethodically into a compact system." This is what Bohmert says in his pamphlet that lies before us: A Handbook of Political Economy of /he Year 1723, by tAn Unknown Writer. By the help of this pamphlet we will try to give some particulars concerning the work in question. This book of three volumes, published in France by an anonymous Germian, will certainly raise much discussion. Its title runs: Trai/e de z'a richesse des prinices et de leurs etats, et des moyens sinip/es et natlure/s poziryparzvenir. Par M. C. C. d. P. de B., Allemand, Paris, chez Theodore Legras. It is entirely unknown to the political economists and bibliographers of today. B6hmert's attention was called to it by the well-known economist Luigi Cossa who had found its name in a catalogue. He was luckily able to procure it and found it to be a work of some fifteen hundred pages. With regard to the personality of the author, Bohmert thinks he may have been an ambassador or other official from a German court living in Paris. This anonymous Franco-German remarks that by his work he wishes to make known to the intellectual world some facts, the knowledge of which is very interesting; further he wishes to give "all who come into close contact with princes and governments an opportunity of reflecting on matters very important for the preservation of the state." He adds moreover that these principles are by no means new, his method only being a new one. As the pioneer in economic science he had sought to lay down " fixed and certain principles which might serve as guides and rules for the purpose of regulating the economic relations of a country." He had also striven " to arrange these principles in a natural order and to connect them with each other by necessary deductions." We have, then, to deal with a work, curiously lost from sight, but most
- DOI
- 10.1086/250762
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 423-436
- Language
- en
- Sources
- semanticscholar openalex crossref