Very rare original edition.Galiani (known as the Abbot Galiani), educated in Naples by his uncle Celestino, Archbishop of Taranto (who was also the protector of Antonio Genovesi) was first and foremost a economist and, in this field, a precursor: for example, he was against the "wild" application of economic liberalism, as it must be modulated according to the objective conditions of the economy of individual countries. He also argued that a nation's wealth cannot be measured solely by the amount of gold it possesses. He was a brilliant Enlightenment writer and thinker, polemical both towards empty academicism and towards excessive trust in reason. Born in Chieti on 2 December 1728 into a family from Puglia, he was sent to study in Naples by his uncle Celestino, Prefect of the Royal Studies. He soon revealed precocious intellectual gifts, as well as a predisposition for positive criticism and the scientific method applied to economics. At a very young age, in 1735 he translated and commented on Locke's "The considerations of the consequences of the fall in interest and the rise of currency and money". From these studies, and from his acquaintance with other economic experts, Ferdinando developed the intention of rationally organizing the subject, comparing the different thoughts on political economy. The famous treatise "On Money" emerged in 1751, which clarifies many principles of science and history of money, deals with Interest, Premium, Exchange, as well as a clear analysis on Currency. The work, which was published anonymously for security reasons, attracted enormous interest throughout the world and Galiani, who had not yet turned twenty-one, came to the attention of economic scholars, including the Lombard Beccaria. The fame of the work survived the author so much so that Carlo Marx cited it repeatedly in his "Capital". After the publication of "Della Moneta", he took orders and began to be interested in the excavations of Herculaneum. In 1759 he was appointed Secretary of the Embassy in Paris by Bernardo Tanucci, a position he held for ten years. In the French capital he began to frequent the most important literary salons and became an intimate of intellectuals of the caliber of D'Alembert and Diderot. From Paris he carefully followed the Neapolitan grain crisis of 1763, coming to embrace liberal positions. In 1765, during a short stay in Naples, he obtained a degree in civil law. Returning to France, he wrote a dialogue on the grain trade, entrusting the original manuscript to Diderot to revise or have it published. The work, which caused quite a stir, was published in 1770 with the title "Dialogues sur le commerce des bleds". After returning to Naples, Galiani held numerous positions in the public administration. He died in Naples on 30 October 1787.