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Adam Smith

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:30,000.00 - 40,000.00 USD
Adam Smith

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Auction Date:2018 Jan 10 @ 18:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:236 Commercial St., Suite 100, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Scottish moral professor and a respected pioneer of political economy (1723-1790) whose magnum opus, The Wealth of Nations, is considered the first modern work of economics. Rare and boldly penned ALS, one page both sides, 7.25 x 9, March 12, 1760. Letter to the 1st Earl of Shelburne regarding the health of his son Thomas, then Smith's student and lodger, in full: "It gives me as much pleasure to write to your Lordship today as it gave me pain to write to you by last post. The Doctors Predictions have upon this occasion been literally and exactly fulfilled. Mr. Fitzmaurice had the night before last a very slight attack of his fever which he was relieved from by a gentle sweat; & last night he had a bleeding at the nose which Dr. Black regards as a perfect crisis. He has since been entirely free from all feverish ailments or symptoms. He slept very sound all last night without any disturbance, & has been very easy & hearty all this day. He has been out of bed a great part of it, & has been amusing himself by reading the new Tragedy. His two Physicians Drank tea with him & neither of them apprehend him in any danger of a relapse. There has appeared too that sediment in his urine which is regarded by them as the most certain symptom of a recovery in all feverish complaints. I write this after seven o'clock at night. He has just now gone to bed, the weary & exhausted, seems perfectly well in every other respect. It gives me great pleasure to be able to relieve your Lordship so soon from the alarm which my last letter may have given you. I shall write to your Lordship whatever happened by next post. By the Post thereafter he will probably be able to write himself." In fine condition, with partial splitting along the hinge and multiple vertical folds.

During his tenure as a professor of logic and moral philosophy at Glasgow University, Smith graciously offered to share his residence with students who sought both housing and scholastic supervision, a tender he would uphold over the course of thirteen years. Beginning in 1759, Thomas Petty-Fitzmaurice, the youngest son of the 1st Earl of Shelburne, lodged and studied with Smith for two years before eventually moving on and becoming a Member of Parliament in 1761. Published in April of 1759, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Smith's landmark book of ethical philosophy, embodied many of his Glasgow lectures, which in turn enhanced the standing of both the institution and Smith, whose noted genius and influential teachings attracted a generation of young minds to transfer to Glasgow. Representative of the unique concern Smith relayed to his students, this is an exceptionally rare and considerate letter penned less than a year after the publication of his classic work of sentiment and sympathy.