‎BIELFELD, JAKOB FRIEDRICH.‎
‎Institutions politiques, ouvrage où l’on traite de la Société Civile, des loix, de la police, des finances, du commerce, des forces d’un état. 4 vols.‎

‎Paris, Duchesne, 1762. 8vo. Uniformly bound in four contemporary full sprinkled calf bindings with five raised bands and richly gilt spines. Edges of boards gilt and all edges coloured in red. Small paper-label pasted on to top of spines. Light wear to extremities, primarily affecting capitals and hinges. A nice and clean set. (10), 472, (10) pp. + frontispiece (2), 539, (11) pp. (4), 544, (8) pp. (2), 400, 78 pp. + 4 folded plates. ‎

Reference : 60835

‎Second edition, the first being published in 1760, of Bielfeld’s highly popular work political institutions and themes such as law making, police, finances, commerce and the general constitution a states. Bielfeld’s work made it into 12 editions, including translations into German (1761), Italian (1764), Spanish (1767), and Russian (1768/75). Even an abbreviated version was published in Portuguese in Brazil in 1823. “Bielfeld’s volumes of Institutions Politiques are written in the venerable Fürstenspiegel – or ‘Kings’ Mirror’ – tradition. Going back to Greek (Aristotle) and Roman (Pliny the Younger) this type of work lists the virtues and duties of ruler and princes, establishing the necessary wisdom and principles for good governance.36 An important German predecessor was Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff’s Teutsche Fürstenstaat (IX) published in 1656 which was continuously in print for 100 years, the last edition being printed in 1754. Seckendorff and Bielfeld were both employed by men who represented the best intellectualism of Enlightened Despotism: Ernest the Pious of Gotha and Frederick the Great of Prussia respectively.” (Reinert, 80 Economic Bestsellers before 1850: A Fresh Look at the History of Economic Thought)‎