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Full Description: PLAYFAIR, William. An Inquiry into the Permanent Causes of the Decline and Fall of Powerful. and Wealthy Nations. Illustrated by Four Charts. London: Printed for Greenland and Norris, 1805. First edition. Quarto (11 7/8 x 8 1/2 inches; 275 x 215 mm). xx, 301, [1, blank] pp. With four hand-colored folding charts. Contemporary half calf over marbled boards, rebacked to style. Spine ruled and lettered in gilt. Edges speckled red. Previous owner's small ink signature on front pastedown. Overall very good. William Playfair was an "inventor of statistical graphs and writer on political economy.In 1786 and 1801, Playfair invented three fundamental forms of statistical graph the time-series line graph, the bar chart, and the pie chart and he did so without significant precursors. Playfair started to write about economics in the Regulation of the Interest of Money (1785); he wrote both for gain and from conviction. His several subsequent books and pamphlets on economics include one of the first critical editions (1805) of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations. It contained sharp criticism of Smith's ideas together with supplementary material to bring the work up to date, but this edition was not well received." (Oxford DNB). "The history of three thousand years, and of nations that have risen to wealth and power, in a great variety of situations, all terminating with a considerable degree of similarity, discovers the great outline of the causes that invigorate or degrade the human mind, and thereby raise or ruin states and empires" (p. xiv). A remarkable attempt to extract lessons from the downfall of the great empires of history and "find the means by which prosperity may be lengthened out, and the period of humiliation procrastinated to a distant day" (p. iv). Playfair concludes his arguments optimistically, however, in the case of England: "It is, then, wealth arising from industry, that is the object to be aimed at, and that cannot be obtained by war or conquest" (p. 293). Kress B.5240. HBS 68745. $8,500. Seller Inventory # 68745
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