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of a commodity, and the theory of economic surplus, he established important themes and methods for classical economists” ( ODNB ). The work was first published in 1690. For this second edition, “apart from dropping a comma in the fourth line in some copies and the change of date, the title-page is identical with that of [the edition of 1690] and is printed from the same setting of type. The imprimatur and the rest of the book have been reset line-by-line including the Errata, though some of them have been corrected” (Keynes). Octavo (161 × 98 mm). 19th-century calf, green label, gilt rule to covers. Housed in a dark brown flat-back cloth box by the Chelsea Bindery. Bound without terminal advertisement leaf. A little rubbed, light browning to contents. A very good copy. ¶ ESTC R19301; Goldsmiths’ 2869; Keynes 35; Kress 1770; Wing P1933. £4,750 [156936] 128 POLAR – NANSEN, Fridtjof. Farthest North. London: Archibald Constable and Company, 1897 First edition, preceding the first Norwegian edition of the same year. Nansen’s expedition was “a remarkable achievement in Polar exploration” ( PMM ), undertaken to investigate “the polar basin north of Eurasia by drifting in the ice with the currents northwest from the New Siberian Islands across or near the pole” ( Arctic Bibliography ); a splendid set, rarely found in such collectible condition.
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127 PETTY, William. Political Arithmetick. London: for Robert Clavel, and Hen. Mortlock, 1691 introducing statistical analysis to economics Second edition, first published posthumously the previous year. The discourse outlines Petty’s approach of “political arithmetic” (rigorous statistical analysis of economic data and problems), his core contribution to the discipline of economics, and “ranks as one of his most important works” (Keynes). Petty has gone down in history as the originator of statistical analysis, an approach with wide application in many fields of economics, and which did much to set the still-emerging discipline of political economy on a more scientific, rationalized basis. Petty published various works that covered the subject. “Although printed posthumously, Petty’s Political Arithmetick was widely circulated during his lifetime among his friends in numerous manuscripts, one of which he presented to the King with a dedication written probably in 1683. He was
nevertheless very reluctant to have it printed, this resulting in its appearance in an unauthorized and inferior form under the title England’s Guide to Industry , 1683. According to Hull, who described some of the manuscripts, Petty wrote the book during the years 1671–6. After his death there was a general demand for it, and Lady Petty, with the support of Sir Robert Southwell, allowed it to be printed . . . In the book he examined the potential wealth of England by ‘Observations of positions expressed by number, weight and measure’, that is, by statistics. It was acknowledged in Petty’s own time that he was the inventor of this method of exposition” (ibid.). “The novelty in Petty’s approach was to quantify . . . by abstracting numbers and using these as the basis of calculation, whether of profit and loss in his own Irish ironworks or English trades and industries, he constructed the method known as political arithmetic which was widely copied in the later seventeenth century (and beyond). In addition, by isolating such issues as the velocity of circulation, the difference between the natural and market price
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Nordenskjöld and captain Carl Anton Larsen. It was the first Swedish endeavour to the region in the heroic age of Antarctic Exploration. Nordenskjöld and Larsen set out with a large crew and seven scientists, including geologist Johan Gunnar Andersson, zoologist Karl Andreas Andersson, meteorologist Gosta Bodman, and botanist Carl Skottsberg. The expedition set out in the same year as Scott’s Discovery expedition, William Speirs Bruce’s Scotia voyage, and the first German Antarctic expedition, led by Erich von Drygalski. “The shore party remained over two winters, and their adventures - the destruction of their ship by ice, the dispersion and remarkable reunion of three separate groups at Snow Hill Island on November 8, 1903, relief through the Argentine ship Uruguay , and the rescue four days later of fourteen of the ship’s crew . . . evoke comparison with Sir Ernest Shackleton’s adventures in the same locale twelve years later” ( Books on Ice ).
2 volumes, octavo. Original blue-green vertical-ribbed cloth, spines and front covers lettered in gilt, pictorial block in gilt on front covers (of the Fram on vol. I and “Northwards though the Drift-Snows” on vol. II), top and fore edges untrimmed. Etched frontispiece in vol. I, photogravure frontispiece in vol. II, 127 plates of which 16 in colour, 92 illustrations in the text, 4 folding colour maps; titles printed in red and black. Initials “L.Q.” in pen on half-title in each volume; small marginal annotation in pencil on, p. 222 in vol. II (“June?”); manuscript note loosely inserted, dated 14 August 2012. A touch rubbed, corners bumped, scattered foxing, vol. II cracked to cords between pp. 112–13, “General Map” with repaired tear at stub strengthened with paper on recto. An exceptionally well- preserved set, the gilt sparkling. ¶ Arctic Bibliography 11983; Books on Ice 5.2; Howgego III N3; PMM 384. £950 [159413]
– Otto. Wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse Schwedischen Südpolar-Expedition 1901–1903. Stockholm: Lithographisches Institut des Generalstabs; Berlin: W. Asher & Co.; Paris: Haar & Steinert, A. Eichler; London: W. Dulau & Co., 1905–21 an impressive scientific publication from an early antarctic expedition NORDENSKJÖLD, First edition of the complete set of scientific reports from Otto Nordenskjöld’s Swedish Antarctic Expedition of 1901–3. Although well represented institutionally, we can trace no complete comparable set in commerce; it is uncommon in the original wrappers in such exceptional condition. The Swedish expedition was led by geologist Otto
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All items are fully described and photographed at peterharrington.co.uk
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