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Very rare first edition, first issue (with B4 in uncancelled state: on p. 16, a setier is given as weighing 170, rather than 240 pounds), of "an erudite economic work much in advance of its time, and distinguished both by accuracy of method and breadth of view" (Palgrave), "creditable alike to the heart and the head of its illustrious author" (McCulloch). Carpenter lists six other printings dated 1707, all in smaller format, and eight subsequent editions before 1710, including the English translation A Project for a Royal Tythe (1708; reissued in 1710 as An Essay for a General Tax). "Though the book was published anonymously, and only a few copies issued [for circulation among friends], Vauban had to submit to the mortification of seeing it 'pilloried' by the parliament, while he himself incurred the displeasure of the king [Louis XIV]. A few weeks later he died" (Palgrave). Although the renowned soldier-engineer Vauban (1633-1707) wrote on a very wide variety of subjects apart from economics - fortifications, war, naval matters, religion, agriculture, population, and colonization - the Projet d'une Dixme royale is an outstanding work in the field of public finance. Its two most notable features are its understanding of the central role of fiscal policy in economic reform - the result of an exceptionally comprehensive grasp of the economic process - and its use of detailed numerical data to substantiate conclusions. Schumpeter pronounced the work "unsurpassed, before or after, in the neatness and cogency of the argument. Purposeful marshalling of all the available data was the essence of his analysis. Nobody ever understood better the true relation between facts and argument. It is this that makes him an economic classic in the eulogistic sense of the word, and a forerunner of modern tendencies" (Schumpeter, History of Economic Analysis, p. 204). According to Boislisle, the first edition was printed in Rouen in 1706 at the initiative of the Abbé de Beaumont (who is credited with the authorship of the work by Boisguilbert). Vauban had the sheets bound by the widow of a certain Fétil and took great pains that the book had no public circulation. It was prohibited on 14 February 1707, but apparently the police could only seize two copies. To the police, the binder declared she had had 264 copies in total, 12 bound in morocco, the rest in calf. The two copies seized at the Abbé de Beaumont's were described as in "veau fauve" and marbled parchment. See Arthur Michel de Boislisle, "La Proscription du projet de Dime Royale et la mort de Vauban" (Mémoire lu à l'Académie des sciences morales et politiques), Paris, 1875. In the Society of Jesus, a professed house was a residence where - in a spirit of radical poverty - no member had a stable income. The Jesuit priests who lived there, all of whom have made the profession of the four vows, undertake their spiritual and pastoral ministry completely for free. With no revenues, these houses were dependent on the generosity of benefactors, even for their daily needs. Carpenter X (1); En français dans le texte 134; Goldsmiths' 4431; Kress 2583; McCulloch, p. 342f; Masui, p. 396; this edition not in Einaudi, Hollander, INED, Massie or Sraffa. Quarto (245 x 185 mm). Large folding table, "Formulaire qui peut servir pour tout un pays" at page 192, additional tables in text, woodcut vignettes and initials. Contemporary sprinkled calf, spine ruled and decorated gilt in compartments, red morocco label, red edges. Spine ends and corners professionally repaired, covers with a couple of small stains and slight surface abrasions. Ownership inscription of the Professed house of the Society of Jesus of Paris to head of title. Edges of first few leaves lightly tanned from turn-ins, occasional spotting and the odd rust mark; a very good copy.
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