Abstract

Book covers of the Wealth of Nations are among the paratexts that shape readers’ understanding of the text and their experience of reading it. Covers often appeal to readers’ thirst for knowledge or aesthetic sensibility, and many offer interpretations of the texts, sometimes in opposition to each other. Through surveying covers, this essay uncovers these visual interpretations of the Wealth of Nations so that readers might more deliberately form their own judgments of Adam Smith’s most famous book.