Eléments de la politique, ou recherche des vrais principes de l'économie sociale.

A Londres, 1773. 6 volumes in 4. xliv, 336 pp.; xii, 429, (1) pp.; xii, 418 pp.; xi, (1), 265, (1) pp.; vii, (1), 334 pp.; x, 273, (1) pp. 8vo. Contemporary marbled calf, spines gilt with raised bands and labels with gilt lettering (gilt volume numbering faded), joints of volume 4 expertly repaired, tiny hole at foot of spine. Kress C.4731; Einaudi 1627; Higgs 5647; INED 1483; not in Goldsmiths; not in Mattioli. First edition, rare. Dubuat-Nançay (1732-1787), diplomat and historian is seen as one of Cantillon's disciples because of his emphasis upon the standard of living and his treatment of luxury. He differed from Cantillon, however, both in his general philosophy and in his analysis of social problems. Thus he believed that the ruin of France could be averted only through the restoration of a feudal regime. In his emphasis upon agriculture he resembled Sully and the agrarians; in his notion of a providential natural order and of the net productivity of agriculture, the physiocrats. Unlike Cantillon, Dubuat-Nançay was a populationist in that he explicitly favored, with some qualification, as large a population as could be supported in life and health on a given territory. See for an elaborate analysis of the work and ideas of Dubuat-Nançay: J.J. Spengler, French Predecessors of Malthus, pp. 144-150.