Rare first edition of Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations goes on sale

Copy of book dating from 1776 is expected to fetch £50,000 at auction in Edinburgh.

A rare first edition copy of Adam Smith's work The Wealth of Nations, which has been valued at up to £50,000, is to be sold at auction.

First published in 1776, the book by the Scottish economist and philosopher is one of the world's first assessments of what creates wealth within a nation. The work reflects on economics at the beginning of the industrial revolution and explores issues such as the division of labour, productivity and free markets.

The book, which has as its full title An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, helped earn its author the label of father of modern economics and is still held in high regard.

Simon Vickers, a book specialist at the auctioneers Lyon & Turnbull, said the book was written over a 10-year period. "[He] challenged the prevailing mercantilist economic philosophy, in which people saw national wealth in terms of a country's stock of gold and silver and imports as a danger to a nation's wealth, arguing that in a free exchange both sides became better off."

The copy is to go under the hammer in Edinburgh next Wednesday.

• Economics
• Edinburgh
• Scotland