FERGUSON, Adam (1723-1816). An Essay on the History of Civil Society . Edinburgh: for A. Millar and T. Cadell, London, and A. Kincaid and J. Bell, Edinburgh, 1767. 4° (260 x 205mm). (Infrequent light spotting and browning.) Contemporary speckled calf with morocco lettering-piece (spine a little worn at head and chipped at foot, lower corners and edges worn). Provenance : Emily Mercer, Marchioness of Lansdowne (1819-1895; bookplate).
FERGUSON, Adam (1723-1816). An Essay on the History of Civil Society . Edinburgh: for A. Millar and T. Cadell, London, and A. Kincaid and J. Bell, Edinburgh, 1767. 4° (260 x 205mm). (Infrequent light spotting and browning.) Contemporary speckled calf with morocco lettering-piece (spine a little worn at head and chipped at foot, lower corners and edges worn). Provenance : Emily Mercer, Marchioness of Lansdowne (1819-1895; bookplate). FIRST EDITION of Ferguson's masterpiece. His 'diagnosis of the problems of advanced commercial society was an assertive civic version of the Scottish attempt to work out the co-existence of wealth and virtue ... The real danger in modern times, he said, wasnot luxury, but political laziness. Riches and material well-being did not in themselves cause or imply moral degeneration. Modern commercial success, however, encouraged the well-to-do to stay out of politics, hence away from virtuous life. What matters, then, is not the wealth amassed by members of society, but the retaining of their political personae: a trader, a craftsman, or a man of the world must never cease to be a citizen. This reworking of the civic creed was Ferguson's distinct philosophical voice in the Scottish Enlightenment' (ODNB). Goldsmiths' 10264; Higgs 3973; Kress 6432.
FERGUSON, Adam (1723-1816). An Essay on the History of Civil Society . Edinburgh: for A. Millar and T. Cadell, London, and A. Kincaid and J. Bell, Edinburgh, 1767. 4° (260 x 205mm). (Infrequent light spotting and browning.) Contemporary speckled calf with morocco lettering-piece (spine a little worn at head and chipped at foot, lower corners and edges worn). Provenance : Emily Mercer, Marchioness of Lansdowne (1819-1895; bookplate).
FERGUSON, Adam (1723-1816). An Essay on the History of Civil Society . Edinburgh: for A. Millar and T. Cadell, London, and A. Kincaid and J. Bell, Edinburgh, 1767. 4° (260 x 205mm). (Infrequent light spotting and browning.) Contemporary speckled calf with morocco lettering-piece (spine a little worn at head and chipped at foot, lower corners and edges worn). Provenance : Emily Mercer, Marchioness of Lansdowne (1819-1895; bookplate). FIRST EDITION of Ferguson's masterpiece. His 'diagnosis of the problems of advanced commercial society was an assertive civic version of the Scottish attempt to work out the co-existence of wealth and virtue ... The real danger in modern times, he said, wasnot luxury, but political laziness. Riches and material well-being did not in themselves cause or imply moral degeneration. Modern commercial success, however, encouraged the well-to-do to stay out of politics, hence away from virtuous life. What matters, then, is not the wealth amassed by members of society, but the retaining of their political personae: a trader, a craftsman, or a man of the world must never cease to be a citizen. This reworking of the civic creed was Ferguson's distinct philosophical voice in the Scottish Enlightenment' (ODNB). Goldsmiths' 10264; Higgs 3973; Kress 6432.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
