"THE EARLIEST APPEARANCE IN SWEDISH OF A NUMBER OF TRANSLATIONS FROM ADAM SMITH"

SMITH, ADAM -

"Om Beskatning" (+) "Om Jordbrukets förfall i Europa, efter Romerska Väldets undergäng" (+) "Om Handelsbalancen" (+) "Om Jordbruks-systemet I en Rikshushållning, samt om Economisterne I Frankrike" (+) "Om Pappers-myntet I Norr-Amerika Kolonierne, före Revolutionen" (+) "Om Krono-jord" (+) "Theorien för statsskulder". [ I: ] Läsning i blandade ämnen. Första [ - Femte och Sista] Årgången. [= No. 1-50]

Stockholm, Henrik A. Nordström, 1797-1801.

8vo. Uncut, partly unopened in the original wrappers. In 22 volumes as issued. Last volume name written on title-page, otherwise an exceptionally fine, clean and untouched set rarely seen in this condition.
(4),102 pp.; (2),182 pp.; (2),107 pp.; (2),157,(1) pp.; (2),176,(4) pp.; (4),138,(2) pp.; (2),205,(1) pp. + 1 folded table; (2),188 pp; (2),190 pp.; (2),89,(4) pp.; (4),135,(1) pp.; (2),116,(1) pp.; (2),157 pp.; (2),120 pp.; (2),151,(1 blank,10) pp. + 1 folded map; (2),215 pp. + 1 folded table; (2),131,(5) pp.; (4),207 pp.; (2),183,(1) pp. + 1 folded table; (2),218 pp.; (2),144,(4) pp.; (6),449,(1) pp. + 5 folded plates.

"Om Beskatning", Part: 36, 37, 38:Pp. 145-177
"Om Jordbrukets förfall i Europa, efter Romerska Väldets undergäng", Part: 27, 28. Pp. 93-120
"Om Handelsbalancen", Part: 25,26. Pp. 92-114
"Om Jordbruks-systemet I en Rikshushållning, samt om Economisterne I Frankrike", Part: 25-26. Pp. 43-92
"Om Pappers-myntet I Norr-Amerika Kolonierne, före Revolutionen". Part: 27-28. Pp.57-62
"Om Krono-jord". Part: 29,30,31. Pp 139-146.
"Theorien för statsskulder". Part: 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49 & 50. Pp. 151-161.

First, however partial, translation of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations in Swedish rarely seen in this condition, thus making it the very first opportunity for Swedish speakers to study Adam Smith. A more lengthy translation was made in 1909 - 1911 but to this day a full Swedish translation has not been made.

"Von Schulzenheim [nobleman, physician, country squire and politician] also published shorter articles in the review 'Läsning I blandade ämnen', an organ of the opposition to the absolutist and obscurantist regime of Gustavus IV Adolphus. The editor of the review was count Georg Adlersparre, an army officer and a political writer who in 1809 was to become one of the prime-movers behind the dethronement of the king.
Adlersparre to was an admirer of Adam Smith. In 1799-1800 he published in the 'Läsning' his own Swedish translation of several selections from Wealth of Nations. In some cases Adlersparre added footnotes, making it easier for the readers to apply Smith's ideas to Swedish conditions.
Those translations, to the best of my knowledge, were the first ones of Wealth of Nations in Sweden. They were followed by translations of other parts of Wealth of Nations, published in 1800 amd 1808. This time the translator was Erik Erland Bodell, an official of the Swedish Customs and thus, if you like, a colleague of Adam Smith." ( Cheng-chung, Adam Smith Across Nations).

Despite the comparatively late translation into Swedish, it still had a profound influence, not on economists since they were well aware of the original work in English, but upon politics and public opinion in general:
"There are few things more striking to the modem student of the history of ideas in Sweden than the negative phenomenon that Sweden was almost entirely uninfluenced by this fact and thus remained almost unaffected by English economic thought during a period when its superiority was most evident. As far as I am acquainted with the Swedish economic discussion and our popular economic literature of the 1860's and 1870's, there is almost no trace of any influence from English writers. [...]Of Adam Smith we have still only one abbreviated translation of his famous work and that was published as late as during this century; and, as far as I know, nothing of Ricardo's or Malthus' exists in Swedish, nor do any of the major economic works of J.S. Mill." (Heckscher, A survey of economic thought in Sweden, 1875-1950).

The journal was preceded by Adlersparre's "Läsning för landtmän" 1795-96. The content is a mixture of literature, agriculture, law, philosophy and politics. Apart from the many contributions by Swedish authors, "Läsning i blandade ämnen" also contains texts by Kant, Gibbon and De Lolme

OCLC lists copies at Yale, Minnesota, and Texas.

Order-nr.: 53615