Nota bene: Below is an excerpt from the penultimate chapter (Ch. 12) of my forthcoming book with Salim Rashid, Das Adam Smith Problematic? Ethics, Economics and Society. (Footnotes are below the fold. Also, check out this website devoted to “Robert & Andrew Foulis, the Foulis Press, and Their Legacy.”)

In a letter dated 17 September 1759 and addressed to his soon-to-be benefactor and grand-tour patron Charles Townshend (Corr. No. 39), Adam Smith mentions that he “sent about a fortnight ago the books which you ordered for the Duke of Buccleugh [from] Mr. Campbell at Edinburgh.”[1] These books were thus destined for Townshend’s stepson, Henry Scott, the 3rd Duke of Buccleugh, perhaps in preparation for the grand tour he would in a few years’ time be undertaking. (See Chapter 9.) According to Ernest Mossner and Ian Simpson Ross,[2] the books Smith is referring to in this missive were supplied by Robert and Andrew Foulis, printers to the University of Glasgow. In addition, Mossner and Ross tracked down the titles—46 separate tomes in all.[3] And as it happens, this catalogue contains many of great works of ancient Greek and Roman literature, including three different editions of Homer’s Iliad (see items #1, #10, & #15 below), or in the words of Mossner and Ross (1987, p. 57 n.2), “The list is instructive in representing the range of authors thought suitable for educating the young duke, and for reflecting the stock of the Foulis brothers, both as booksellers and printers.”

For reference, then, below is the complete catalogue of 46 books that Smith had ordered for Duke Henry from the Foulis brothers as reported by Ernest Mossner and Ian Simpson Ross:

1. Homeri Ilias 2 Vol. large folio
2. —Odyssea 2 Vol. large folio
3. Callimachus Gr. cum figuris folio
4. Caesaris Opera folio
5. Sophocles Gr. 4to
6. Aeschylus Gr. 4to
7. Plinij Epistolae & Panegyricus 4to
8. Theocritus Gr. 4to
9. Minucius Felix 4to
10. Homeri Ilias 2 Vol. Gr. 4to
11. Caesaris Opera 4to
12. Boetius de Consolatione Philosophiae
13. Tyrtaeus Gr. Lat. 4to
14. Demetrius Phalereus de Elocutione
15. Terentij Comoediae, 8vo
16. Homeri Ilias Gr. Lat. 3 Vol. 8vo
17. Sophocles Gr. Lat. 2 Vol. 8vo
18. Aeschylus Gr. Lat. 2 Vol. 8vo
19. Theocritus Gr. Lat. 8vo
20. Minucius Felix 8vo
21. Aristophanis Nubes Gr. Lat. 8vo
22. Boetius de Consolatione, &c. 8vo
23. Antoninus Gr. Lat. 8vo 2 Vol.[4]
24. Plutarchus de Poetis audiendis Gr. Lat. 8vo
25. Euripidis Orestes Gr. Lat. 8vo
26. Aristoteles de Mundo Gr. Lat. 8vo
27. Epictetus & Cebes Gr. Lat. 8vo large print
28. Anacreon Gr. large print, 8vo
29. Theophrasti Characteres Gr. Lat. large print 8vo
30. Horatius, editio ultima 8vo
31. Virgilius, editio ult. 8vo
32. Sallustius 8vo
33. Lucretius 8vo
34. Paterculus 8vo
35. Tibullus & Propertius 8vo
36. Poetae Latini minores 8vo
37. Iuvenalis & Persius 8vo
38. Pomponius Mela de situ Orbis 8vo
39. Phaedrus & P. Syrus 8vo
40. Thucydides de Peste Gr. Lat. 8vo
41. Plinij Epist. & Panegyr. 2 Vol. 12mo
42. Tacitus 4 Vol. 12mo
43. Hippocratis Aphorismi Gr. Lat. 12mo
44. Epictetus & Cebes Gr. Lat. 12mo 2 6
45. Pindari Opera 3 Vol. Gr. small size
46. Ciceronis Opera 20 Vol. fine

We have questions! Who put together this comprehensive list of classical readings? Adam Smith or Charles Townshend? Smith’s letter to Townshend informs us that it was the British politician who ordered the books, but it must have been Smith who recommended the titles in this list, right? Either way, how many of these classics had Smith himself read and studied, and which ones were his favorites? Also, how many of these great works were assigned readings in Smith’s own public and private courses at Glasgow?

[1] According to Ernest Mossner and Ian Simpson Ross (1987, p. 57, n. 1), the reference to “Mr. Campbell” is to Archibald Campbell, “Writer to the Signet: agent of the Buccleuch family.”

[2] See Mossner & Ross 1987, p. 57 n.2.

[3] See ibid., pp. 57-58 n.2.

[4] This text most likely refers to “Μαρκου Αντωνινου Αυτοκρατοροσ των εισ εαυτον βιβλια. Marci Antonini imperatoris eorum quae ad seipsum libri XII. By Marcus Aurelius. (Glasguae : In aedibus academicis, excudebat R. Foulis Academiae Typographus, MDCCXLIV. [1744]).” See University of St Andrews Library 2018.