‎BIELFELD, (J.F.) DE.‎
‎Institutions politiques. Par Monsieur Le Baron de Bielfeld. Tome Premier [- Tome Second].‎

‎A La Haye, Chez Pierre Gosse, 1760. With engraved portrait as frontispiece and 4 folding tables. Two volumes. (4), iv, (2), 358, (8) pp.; (6), 344, (6) pp. 4to. Contemporary marbled calf, spines with raised bands, labels with gilt lettering, some damage to head and foot of spines, a bit rubbed, rear joint of volume 2 split but holding firm. Camus 215; Higgs 2422; cf.: Kress S.4180; not in Goldsmiths; not in Einaudi. Scarce first edition. Baron Bielfeld was personal advisor to Frederick II of Prussia and mentor to Prince Ferdinand. His Institutions aims at examining the foundations of the modern state and at outlining a science of government. His perspective is economic as well as political; his leanings are towards policies of free trade, granting timely independence to colonies, and the fight against poverty. He traces a history of political arithmetic citing Graunt, Petty, Süssmilch and the English and French 'calculateurs', and examines the sources of the wealth of nations, devoting particular attention to trade, and mentioning the effects of American lands and resources on Spain and Britain.'Cet ouvrage est écrit à l'usage des gouvernants. Il concerne l'art de règner. Bielfeld veut réduire la politique en système, la transformer en une science qui puisse être enseignée. Il divise ses Institutions Politiques en deux parties: 1: Tout ce qui regarde l'intérieur d'un État: cadre législatifs et politiques, finances, manufactures, commerce, navigation, armée, marine ....; 2: Tout ce qui concerne la politique étrangère et les rapports d'un État avec les autres puissances' (Leblanc).'This is essentially a cameralistic guide for rulers. Bielfeld, although a German, first published his books in French; he relied in large measure upon the French data and writers' (Spengler, French predecessors of Malthus, p. 79)."This Cameralistic treatise is by a Prussian state official. It was more successful outside Germany than any other Cameralistic work, presumably because it was written in the international language of the Eighteenth Century -- French" (Carpenter, Economic Bestsellers, XX.9). ‎

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