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KÂ- MONDO / KAPANDJI MORHANGE

103 - [ECONOMICS]. Reflections on a work entitled: The Wealth of t…
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Estimate €150 - €200
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Description
[ECONOMICS]. Reflections on a work entitled: The Wealth of the State. A charming little booklet proposing, in the heart of the 18th century, a reform of the tax system. No place, no publisher, 1763. In-12 (160 x 95 mm), mahogany half-calf, smooth spine with gilt title running lengthwise. Later binding. 22 pages. Title page restored, pages 16–17 stuck together. Published at the height of the controversy surrounding Roussel de la Tour’s *La Richesse de l’État*, this pamphlet bears the same title as those written and published by Pierre-Samuel Dupont de Nemours, a French economist and writer associated with the Physiocrats. However, whilst Dupont de Nemours proceeds from the principle that the state’s wealth can derive solely from the land and its use, our anonymous author appears to adopt, with slight modifications, certain arguments put forward by Roussel de la Tour, without making any mention of agriculture. Thus, the system of taxation by tax class, inspired in part by the division of Roman society into classes (Titus Livius, I, XLIII), proposed by the latter, is merely modified by our author (the number of taxable classes is reduced from 22 to 15, distributed according to actual wealth rather than privileges), who also views the retention of certain general farms with disfavour, whereas Dupont de Nemours almost entirely rejects these new forms of taxation replacing the taille, the capitation tax and the vingtième, and makes no mention of these general tax farms. A very fine copy in excellent condition.
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About the sale Fine antique and collectible books, manuscripts and modern illustrated works
Auction location
Auction time 06/29/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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