View source for Observations on Reversionary Payments

{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Observations on Reversionary Payments''}}
<big>Observations on Reversionary Payments: on Schemes for Providing Annuities for Widows, and for Persons in Old Age; on the Method of Calculating the Values of Assurances on Lives; and on the National Debt to Which are Added Four Essays on Different Subjects in the Doctrine of Life-Annuities and Political Arithmetick, also an Appendix</big>
===by Richard Price===
__NOTOC__
{{BookPageInfoBox
|imagename=PriceObservationsOnReversionary1772.jpg
|link=https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/3621437
|shorttitle=Observations on Reversionary Payments
|author=Richard Price
|publoc=London
|publisher=T. Cadell and W. Davis
|year=1772
|edition=Second
|lang=English
|pages=404 p. tables
|desc=(21 cm.)
}}[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Price Richard Price] (1723-1791) was a well-known Welsh philosopher and preacher. He was also a well-respected writer who was most noted for his influential work in a variety of fields such as demography, philosophy, finance, and life insurance.<ref>D. O. Thomas, [http://www.oxforddnb.com.proxy.wm.edu/view/article/22761 “Price, Richard (1723–1791)”], in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', (Oxford University Press, 2004-), accessed Sept. 26, 2013. (Subscription required for access.)</ref> He was also an active participant in liberal causes such as the American and French Revolutions.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Price associated with many of America’s founding fathers and would often host such noted revolutionaries as [[Thomas Jefferson]], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Adams John Adams], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Paine Thomas Paine] at his home.<ref>Jenny Graham, ''The Nation, the Law, and the King: Reform Politics in England, 1789-1799'' (Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 2000), 1:131.</ref> Price rose to prominence in early 1776 when he published a pamphlet attacking the British treatment of the colonies.<ref>Jack P. Greene, ''A Companion to the American Revolution'' (Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers, 2000), 251.</ref> Many experts believe Price’s pamphlet had a role in the American colonies ultimately declaring their independence.<ref>Richard Price and Bernard Peach, "Preface," in ''Richard Price and the Ethical Foundations of the American Revolution: Selections from His Pamphlets, with Appendices'' (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1979), 9.</ref><br />
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In 1766, or thereabouts, he began his influential work with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_for_Equitable_Assurances Society for Equitable Assurances] which led to the publication in 1771 of ''Observations on Reversionary Payments''. In May 1770 Price presented to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Society Royal Society] a paper on the proper method of calculating the values of contingent reversions. ''Observations on Reversionary Payments'' became a classic, in use for about a century, and providing the basis for financial calculations of insurance and benefit societies, of which many had recently been formed.<ref>J. D. Holland, "An Eighteenth-Century Pioneer Richard Price, D.D., F.R.S. (1723-1791)," ''Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London'' 23, no.1 (1968), 47.</ref>  

==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==
Listed in the [[Jefferson Inventory]] of [[Wythe's Library]] as ''Price on annuities. 8vo.'' and given by [[Thomas Jefferson]] to his grandson [[Thomas Jefferson Randolph]]. The precise edition owned by Wythe is unknown. [http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe George Wythe's Library]<ref>''LibraryThing'', s. v. "Member: George Wythe," accessed on November 13, 2013, http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe </ref> on LibraryThing indicates this, adding "One-volume octavo editions were published at London in 1772 and 1773; and Dublin in 1772, 1781, and 1784." The [https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433 Brown Bibliography]<ref> Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433</ref> lists the 1772 edition published in London based on the copy Jefferson sold to the Library of Congress.<ref>E. Millicent Sowerby, ''Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson'', 2nd ed. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1983), 4:12 [no.3688].</ref> The Wolf Law Library followed Brown's suggestion and purchased the 1722 edition published in London.

==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==
Bound in original calf with gilt lettered black morocco spine label. Contains bookplate on front pastedown. 

View this book in [https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/3621437 William & Mary's online catalog.]
==External Links==
[http://books.google.com/books?id=FzM5AAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Observations+on+Reversionary+Payments+Richard+Price&hl=en&sa=X&ei=5sfeUZywILjI4AOWlICQAg&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Observations%20on%20Reversionary%20Payments%20Richard%20Price&f=false Google Books]

===References===
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[[Category:Economics and Finance]]
[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]