Essai politique sur le commerce

Partly original edition, enlarged with 7 additional chapters; this is the first complete edition.
Contemporary full brown calf binding. Spine with raised bands, richly gilt. Red morocco label. Small loss to head of upper joint. Three corners slightly rubbed. A good copy.
Manuscript ex-libris on title page: Denille.

First work to offer a comprehensive theory of mercantilism and to systematize trade. The book anticipated physiocratic theories, which would emerge only twenty years later. Melon served as John Law’s private secretary until the collapse of the latter’s system, of which he provides a full account. The Louisiana Company or Mississippi Company, established by Law, attracted wide interest across Europe and sparked enormous speculation, culminating in a financial collapse. Melon gives particular attention to colonial affairs in America and India, and argues for the necessity of slavery. He defends freedom of consumption and asserts that luxury is both morally and economically indispensable.
Voltaire: "l'essai sur le commerce, est l'ouvrage d'un homme d'esprit, d'un citoyen, d'un philosophe." Roubaud: "M. Melon est le premier auteur français qui a considéré le commerce comme une science."