As I mentioned in my previous post (see here), between the publication of the second and third editions of his Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith published a separate 79-page pamphlet titled Additions and Corrections to the First and Second Editions of Dr. Adam Smith’s Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1784). Smith’s supplement, which is available here, contains 13 separate substantive inserts or additions to the first two editions of The Wealth of Nations. The shortest of these inserts consists of just 39 words, while the longest one contains 40 paragraphs spread across 32 pages, including a single paragraph that spans almost eight full pages! For reference, below is a full breakdown of all 13 parts of Smith’s 1784 supplement:

1. Part #1 = 1 paragraph; 6 sentences (14 lines)
2. Part #2 = 2 paragraphs; 7 sentences (20 lines)
3. Part #3 = 1 paragraph; 1 sentence (4 lines)
4. Part #4 = 1 paragraph; 12 sentences (36 lines)
5. Part #5 = 2 paragraphs; 15 sentences (55 lines)
6. Part #6 = 9 paragraphs; 37 sentences (121 lines)
7. Part #7 = 1 paragraph; 3 sentences (10 lines)
8. Part #8 = 4 paragraphs; 18 sentences (73 lines)
9. Part #9 = 1 paragraph; 1 sentence (5 lines)
10. Part #10 = 2 paragraphs; 5 sentences (17 lines)
11. Part #11 = 13 paragraphs, plus two tables, spread across nine pages
12. Part #12 = 54 paragraphs spread across 24 pages
13. Part #13 = 40 paragraphs spread across 32 pages

Why did Smith make these 13 separate “additions and corrections”? What did he have to say in each one? And to what extent do these new additions reflect what Smith may have learned first-hand as an official Commissioner of Scottish Customs and Salt Duties, a full-time post he had held from February 1778? I will proceed to the substance of these 13 additions starting on Monday, 29 June.