THE ECONOMIC AND DEMOGRAPHIC SITUATION OF DENMARK

SCHIRACH, (GOTTLOB BENEDIKT von).

Mémoires pour servir a la connoissance de l'Etat actuel du Royaume de Danemark. Traduits de l'Allemand de Mr. de Schirach & enrichis de plusiers additions & corrections de l'auteur même.

(No place), 1785. 8vo. Very nice cont. marbled paper binding w. gilt tilte-label and gilt (library) marking (B.UH) to spine. A bit of wear w. minor loss to capitals. An excellent, very nice and clean copy. 183 pp.

The very rare first French edition of this important work on Danish demography and economy. The work is an augmented translation of the second half of "Über das königliche Dänische Indigenatrecht und einige andere Gegenstände der Staatswissenschaft und Geschichte" from 1779, by the same author.

The work contains tables that show the current demographical situation in Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Schleswig, Holstein, Oldenburg, and Delmenhorst, as well as the economic situation and development of the Kingdom of Denmark, e.g. an aspect of the trade-relation between the Kingdom of Denmark and that of England from 1698 till 1754.

The work is thus highly interesting in several regards. It is one of the earliest works to deal with the question of the right of citizenship in Denmark and an early account and analysis of the economic situation of the country. The work must also be one of the first to seriously treat the demographical aspect of Denmark, as the first census in Denmark took place in 1769, and the second in 1787, being the only conts of the entire population of the Kingdom of Denmark conducted before the 19th century.

Gottlob Benedikt von Schirach (1743 - 1804) was the son of the theologist Christian Gottlob Schirach. G.B. Schirach was a German historian and Danish counsellor of legation. He published a number of books within the fields of history and economics, due to which he came to be regarded as one of the most important writers of his time. He founded the journal "Politisches Journal..." in 1781, which became one of the one of the first really important journals of Northern and Middle Germany.

Biblotheca Danica I: 739

Order-nr.: 38314