Lettre à l'auteur des Observations sur le commerce des grains.

A Amsterdam (Paris), 1775. 32 pp. 8vo. Modern half morocco, gilt lettering. INED 733 (Bourdon-Desplanches) & 2917 (Linguet); Kress 7134 (listed under Linguet but attributing it also to Bourdon-Desplanches); Einaudi 3413 (attribution to Linguet); not in Goldsmiths; not in Higgs; Leblanc 162 (listed under Linguet but attributing it also to Bourdon-Desplanches). First edition. The usual attribution of the Observations sur le Commerce des Grains is to Dupont de Nemours, see INED and Einaudi. However, Dupont de Nemours' work was written as early as 1770. The author of these Observations against which Bourdon-Desplanches writes, is G.J.B. Target. The complete title of Target's work is: Observations sur le commerce des grains, écrites en décembre 1769, Amsterdam, et Paris, Cellot, 1775. The text of Bourdon-Desplanches' vehement refutation starts: 'Vous venez, Monsieur, d'imprimer, en 1775, ce que vous écrivies, dites-vous, en 1769 .....' The Lettre à l'auteur .... has sometimes been attributed to Linguet, but Darline Gay Levy, who wrote an important study on Linguet, attributes this work to Bourdon-Desplanches (see page 354). Target's work was a plea in favor of freedom of trade in grain, while Bourdon-Desplanches' response is vehemently opposing the idea of absolute and unlimited freedom of trade in grain. - Small dampstain in lower inner margin, not touching any text.