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Correspondence of Adam Smith, ed. E. C. Mossner and I. S. Ross, vol. VI of the Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1987).

Part of: The Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith, 7 vols.

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130.

To MME DE BOUFFLERS

Recherches sur la nature et les causes de la richesse des nations, trad. . . . par le citoyen Blavet (Paris, 1800), xxiv (extract).

[? Edinburgh, Kirkcaldy, Feb. 1772]1

C’était une grande mortification pour moi de voir la manière dont mon livre (Théorie des Sentimens Moraux)2 avait été traduit dans la langue d’une nation où je n’ambitionne sûrement pas d’être estimé plus que je ne le mérite. Votre bonté généreuse m’a délivré de cette peine, et m’a rendu le plus grand service qu’on puisse rendre à un homme de lettres.3 Je me promets un grand plaisir à lire une traduction faite, parce que vous l’avez desiré. Si ce n’est pas être trop curieux, je serais bien aise de savoir le nom de la personne qui m’a fait l’honneur de me traduire.

[1 ]See Letter 129 from Hume, dated 28 Jan. 1772. Smith presumably wrote this letter soon thereafter.

[2 ]The earliest French trans. of TMS was by Marc–Antoine Eidous (in 2 vols. Paris, 1764). Smith had a copy of this.

[3 ]The Abbé Blavet published his trans. in 1774 (2 vols. Paris). In a note to this letter he mentions that Mme de Boufflers compared it with the original from beginning to end. Smith’s library contained a presentation copy of the Blavet trans. (Bonar 171.)

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