The economy of human life; translated from an Indian Manuscript, written by an ancient Bramin. In two parts. by [Dodsley, Robert; Hill, John; Cao Tsou] - 1833

Printed for W. Simpkin & R. Marshall. London. 1833. 12mo. 7x12cm. xii, 152pp. Engraved frontispiece. Part 2 has separate half-title and preface. Contemporary quarter calf, marbled boards. Gilt to spine. Chipped to head of spine, rubbed with wear to corners and edges. Lightly toned, some offsetting of frontispiece to title.

"The Oeconomy of Human Life purports to be an English translation of an ancient Indian text found by a Chinese scholar in Lhasa." Attributed to Robert Dodsley, the bookseller, it became a bestseller.

The first part is attributed to Robert Dodsley, dedicated to P. D. Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield; the second is attributed to John Hill, also dedicated to the Earl of Chesterfield.

A system of mystical instruction: a translation of the most ancient manuscript found in the Grand Temple of Thibet by Cao-Tsou. The original "author" has been variously identified as Dandamis, Confucius, Lao-tse or the Brahmins, and in the ancient Egyptian teachings of Amenhotep IV, Pharaoh of Egypt. Or there may have never been an original at all. The Economy was republished as 'Kuthumi' by the Theosophists in 1886.

See: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. Third Series, Vol. 19, No. 4 (Oct., 2009), pp. 439-458 Bray, John. The Oeconomy of Human Life: An 'Ancient Bramin' In Eighteenth-Century Tibet.