Entretiens de Phocion, sur le rapport de la morale avec la politique

Second edition, published the same year as the first, and like it with the Amsterdam imprint alone.
Full marbled blonde calf binding. Smooth spine, decorated. Red morocco title label. Headcap worn. Upper joint cracked at head. One corner bumped. Rubbed. A good copy.
This is undoubtedly the best work by Mably (1709-1785), historian, moral and political philosopher, who was later considered one of the first communist theorists. Presented as a translation from Greek and dialogues between Phocion, leader of Athens, and Aristias, a young citizen. Mably develops at length the relationship between morality and politics and arrives at the idea that private property is the foundation of social injustice. He nevertheless recognizes its irreversible character, while deploring the concentration of money. Mably was however mistrustful of any political system; his true belief concerned natural man as expounded by Rousseau. His works reveal the proximity of his political thought to those of Condillac, Plato and Locke.
Blue stamp: Bibliothèque Bonne Presse. A.R.T. (on the half-title and title).