# Is "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations" by Adam Smith a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith (W. Strahan and T. Cadell, London, 1776) is identified by: Two quarto volumes (about 264 x 216 mm), London: printed for W. London is the true first - Smith wrote in English and Strahan and Cadell printed it; there is no earlier foreign or original-language edition.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Two quarto volumes (about 264 x 216 mm), London: printed for W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1776, published 9 March 1776
- The first edition carries no edition statement on the title page; the corrected third edition of 1784 and all later London editions state their edition, which is the fastest first screen
- A half-title was issued in volume II only - none was printed for volume I, so its absence there is not a defect and its supposed presence is a warning sign - and a publisher's advertisement leaf belongs at the end of volume II. The first edition is a heavily cancelled book: leaves M3, Q1, U3, 2Z3, 3A4 and 3O4 in volume I and D1 and 3Z4 in volume II are cancels, and auction and ABAA dealer descriptions of the first edition itemise them individually
- References: ESTC T96668
- Rothschild 1897
- Kress 7621
- Publisher imprint reads W. Strahan and T. Cadell, London

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Adam Smith |
| Publisher | W. Strahan and T. Cadell, London |
| Year | 1776 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Two quarto volumes (about 264 x 216 mm), London: printed for W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1776, published 9 March 1776 |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Two quarto volumes (about 264 x 216 mm), London: printed for W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1776, published 9 March 1776. The first edition carries no edition statement on the title page; the corrected third edition of 1784 and all later London editions state their edition, which is the fastest first screen. A half-title was issued in volume II only - none was printed for volume I, so its absence there is not a defect and its supposed presence is a warning sign - and a publisher's advertisement leaf belongs at the end of volume II. The first edition is a heavily cancelled book: leaves M3, Q1, U3, 2Z3, 3A4 and 3O4 in volume I and D1 and 3Z4 in volume II are cancels, and auction and ABAA dealer descriptions of the first edition itemise them individually. References: ESTC T96668; PMM 221; Rothschild 1897; Kress 7621; Goldsmiths' 11392; Sabin 82303.

## Is this the true first?
London is the true first - Smith wrote in English and Strahan and Cadell printed it; there is no earlier foreign or original-language edition. The first American edition is Philadelphia: printed for Thomas Dobson, 1789, three volumes octavo, reprinted from the fourth London edition (Evans 31196); it is a separate Americana collecting point, not the first, and note that Dobson's set is the first American edition of vols. 1 and 3 but the second American edition of vol. 2. The census figure of "about 500 copies" for the first edition is NOT confirmed and should not be published: the 500-copy figure that surfaces in the trade attaches to the 1778 second edition, and no reliable first-edition print run was documented in the sources consulted - what is documented is that the first edition sold out in six months.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue exists for an eighteenth-century quarto. Reprint tells are format and imprint: the first is a two-volume quarto printed for W. Strahan and T. Cadell, London, 1776. The common traps are the many later octavo London editions in three volumes (from the 1784 third edition onward, all with edition statements), Dublin and other non-London imprints, and Dobson's 1789 Philadelphia octavos.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations* by Adam Smith a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/an-inquiry-into-the-nature-and-causes-of-the-wealth-of-natio
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.