Dear Prof. Jeffrey Young and all,

In Correspondence of Adam Smith
(Glasgow Edition), he mentioned his delay of writing
many times, but, as far as I know, the following is curious.


No. 4 To his Mother (2 July 1744),
"I am quite inexcusable for not writing to you oftener.
I think of you everyday, but always defer writing till the post
is just going, and then sometimes business or company, but oftener
laziness, hinders me."

No. 262 To John Bruce (3 Oct. 1786)
"After begging you pardon for having so long delayed
writing to you, at last I send you the letter I promised
you to Professor Meiner. My mortal aversion to letters
of compliment and ceremony has been the principal
cause of the delay."

I hope that this helps your research.

Yours Sincerely,
Shinji Nohara
Graduate School of Economics,
University of Tokyo


----- Original Message -----
>> From: Jeff Young <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Date: 2020-05-07 22:05:08
>> Subject: [SHOE] Adam Smith's writing methods
>> 
>> I’m trying to find where Smith talks about being a very slow writer who is constantly writing and rewriting to get the precise meaning he is aiming at.  I’m sure it’s in the correspondence, but I’m hoping someone will know exactly which letter.    You can see the results of it in the numerous minute changes he made to the text of WN as it went through its various editions in his lifetime, but I know he talks about it somewhere in the correspondence., or perhaps one of his biographers mentions it as well. Please reply to me personally. Thank you
>> 
>> JeffreyYoung