Etat des pauvres, ou histoire des classes travaillantes de la société en Angleterre; extrait de l'ouvrage publié en anglais par Sir Morten-Eden…par Larochefoucauld-Liancourt…

Paris: de l'Imprimérie de H. Agasse, An VIII de la République, [1800] First French translation, abridged of Eden's State of the Poor, originally published in 1797. . Rebound in half vellum over marbled boards. . Octavo. A very good, uncut copy, with the original wrappers bound in. A disciple of Adam Smith, Sir Frederick Morton Eden (1766-1809) embarked on his investigation of the living conditions of the poor after witnessing the harsh effects of the high prices brought on by the war in 1794-5. He published his results in three volumes, "the first containing a description of the condition of the laboring classes and an analysis of its causes, the other two the supporting facts in the form of parochial reports on the administration of workhouses and houses of industry, friendly societies, and other charitable organizations, with a lengthy series of appendixes, including tables of prices and wages and a list of works on poverty and its alleviation…Eden's own work, notwithstanding its originality, might now be forgotten if it were not for the invaluable collection of facts attached to it, which can never cease to be of importance. More valuable even than these, however, is the method he adopted of obtaining and systemizing statistically the details of so diffuse a problem; it has proved the basis of sociological investigation ever since" (Printing and the Mind of Man). The translator, François Alexandre Frédéric, Duc de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt (1747-1827), was a liberal French peer and philanthropist. He founded the school of Arts et Métiers at Châlons, and the first saving fund in France. He wrote poems, dramas, and historical works, as well as an eight-volume Travels in America (1800).