first edition Contemporary French sheepskin, spine ornately gilt in compartments to a thistle motif, morocco label. Edges stained red
1754 · A Londres:
by Wallace, [Robert]
A Londres: 1754 First French translation. Contemporary French sheepskin, spine ornately gilt in compartments to a thistle motif, morocco label. Edges stained red. Octavo. Front joint slightly wormed and worn at base, corners lightly worn. Still, a handsome copy. This work opposed Hume's views on the population issue and contributed to the European debate in which Montesquieu (whose influence on Wallace is evident in his Persian Letters and The Spirit of Laws) championed the greater populousness of the ancient world, while Voltaire, like Hume, adopted a more sceptical position, waxing ironical at Wallace's expense in his article on population in the Dictionnaire philosophique" (Norah Smith in Dictionary of Eighteenth-Century British Philosophers).
(Inventory #: 11739)