SISMONDI, JEAN CHARLES LEONARD DE 1842), whose real name was Simonde, was born at Geneva, on May 9, 1773. During the revolutionary disturbances of the Simonde family took refuge in England. On their return the greater part of the family property was sold, and with the pro ceeds they emigrated to Italy, bought a small farm at Pescia near Lucca, and set to work to cultivate it themselves. Sismondi's experiences gave him the material of his first book, Tableau de l'agriculture toscane, which, after returning to Geneva, he pub lished in 1801. In 1803 he published his Traite de la richesse commerciale. As an economist, Sismondi represented a humani tarian protest against the dominant orthodoxy of his time. In his first book he followed Adam Smith, but in his principal subse quent economic work, Nouveaux Principes d'economie politique (1819), he insisted on the fact that economic science studied the means of increasing wealth too much, and the use of wealth for producing happiness too little.
Meanwhile he began to compile his great Histoire des Re publiques Italiennes du moyen age, and became intimate with Madame de Stael. He was invited or commanded (for Madame de Stael's invitations had something of command) to accompany her on the journey into Italy, described in Corinne. During this journey he made the acquaintance of the countess of Albany (q.v.) Louisa of Stolberg, widow of Charles Edward. Sismondi's relations with her were close and lasted long, and they produced much valuable and interesting correspondence. In 1807 appeared
the first volumes of his history. The completion of this book, which extended to sixteen volumes, occupied him for the next eleven years. He lived at first at Geneva, where he held a minor official post. In 1813 he visited Paris for the first time. During the Hundred Days he defended Napoleon's constitutional schemes or promises, and had an interview with the emperor. After the Restoration he left Paris. On completing (1817) his great book on the Italian republics, he undertook (1818) a still greater, the Histoire des Francais, of which during the remaining twenty-three years of his life he published twenty-nine volumes. Sismondi died at Geneva on June 25, 1842.