MOHEAU, Jean-Baptiste

Lot 136
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MOHEAU, Jean-Baptiste
Recherches et considérations sur la population de la France. Paris, Moutard, 1778. 2 volumes in 1 in-8 (197 x 124 mm) of XV pp, 280 pp, 1 folding table printed on page 279 for volume I; 157 pp, 2 ff.n.ch. (approval and errata) for volume II. Spotted calf, smooth spine decorated with the arms of Marie-Louis-Nicole de la Rochefoucauld (OHR 713), red edges (period binding). INED, 3221; Einaudi, 3956 (the second part only); Kress, B135; Goldsmiths, 11690. First edition. It is sometimes attributed to Auget de Montyon, with whom Moheau served as secretary. Moheau (1745-1794) is considered one of the founders of demography and his work precedes that of Thomas Malthus (An Essay on the principle of population, 1798) by almost twenty years; he was notably the first to address the differential mortality according to social strata. "The originality of the Recherches et Considérations lies in the fact that, for the first time in France, demography, ceasing to be an appendix of a political philosophy or an economic system, becomes an autonomous scientific field. The First Part is the result of an important statistical work. Moheau gathered and submitted to a new analysis a great quantity of data on the state and movement of the French population which had been elaborated by his predecessors (Deparcieux, Messance, d'Expilly, Buffon, etc.). He added to it data gathered by himself. With the help of very simple calculations (proportions, averages), he looks for regularities, if not laws" (INED online). Provenance: Marie-Louise-Nicole de la Rochefoucauld d'Anville (coat of arms on the spine, stamp of the Roche Guyon library on the title). Small worm hole in the upper spine, epidermis on the lower cover.
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