FR EN
an old document with writing on it sitting on top of a table
Ader

110 - Jean-Baptiste SAY (1767–1832). 2 letters, Paris, April–Octob…
See original version (French)

Estimate 500 € - 700 €
Sale commission
Description
Jean-Baptiste SAY (1767–1832). 2 letters, Paris, April–October 1821, to Louis-François Benoiston de Châteauneuf; one and a half pages and two and a quarter pages, in-8, one address. 21 April. He proposes to exchange his Letters to Malthus ‘for a copy of the second edition of your Recherches sur les consommations de Paris […] so that I may bring it to the attention of my friends in Edinburgh. You will note that my aim in the Letters to Malthus was to set out a few fundamental principles which are only briefly touched upon in my Treatise on Political Economy and which are discussed at length in the public lectures I give at the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers every Saturday’. He asks for the name of the bookseller ‘who reprinted Lavoisier’s work in 1819’… 8 October. He has received the four copies of his *Consommations industrielles* from Paris: ‘We lament with you the lack of sound foundations, and the more one studies the subject, the more one realises that the information is rendered incomplete by self-interest. It is not only the actions of the tax authorities and the government that industrious people fear: it is their competitors. I am therefore convinced that almost all the figures fall short of the truth. There are, within the social machinery, a multitude of activities and forms of consumption of which producers and consumers are careful not to inform you.’ He congratulated him ‘on having highlighted the areas where efforts should be directed. Your work seems to me to be highly commendable; I shall make use of them in my lectures when the development of my subject requires it; and I shall be glad to be under your debt’. In a postscript, he informs him of the forthcoming publication of a ‘completely revised Catechism of Economics’.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
About the sale Letters and Autograph Manuscripts – Part I
Auction location
Auction time 13/10/2026 à 14h00
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
You may also like