THE PROGRESS OF SOCIETY

220 x 130 mm. (8 5/8 x 5 1/8"). 2 p.l., ii, v-xix [1], 411, [1] pp. Agreeable contemporary black morocco, covers with an elaborate border in gilt and blind of numerous straight and decorative rules and scrolling foliate cornerpieces, raised bands, gilt in compartments with a central ornament in blind, turn-ins tooled in gilt, all edges gilt. Carefully rebacked, retaining original spine (hinges neatly reinforced with buckram). WITH A FORE-EDGE PAINTING DEPICTING A LANDSCAPE WITH A VERY LARGE CASTLE AND LAKE. With 13 pages of charts. Corners bumped and exposed, a handful of scratches to the front cover; occasional spots and soiling internally, other trivial defects, but still quite a good copy, the bulk of the text extremely clean and fresh, with a well-preserved fore-edge painting. This is a pleasing copy, with an attractive fore-edge painting, of the final work of Scottish mathematician and economist Robert Hamilton (1743-1829). A professor at the University of Aberdeen and one of the founders of Edinburgh's Royal Society, Hamilton wrote this work of political economy shortly before his passing, and it was published posthumously. It treats of the relationship between economic principles and the development of social life, and is considered perhaps second in importance only to his "Essay on the National Debt," issued in 1813. The fore-edge painting depicts a serene landscape with sailboat gliding across a smooth lake in front of a castle and tree-studded hills. The artist has rendered the details with subtlety (for example, the castle is faintly reflected in the lake), and the scene as a whole is brigher and richer in color than might be expected.…