On August 25, 1786, in a letter to Van Hogendorp, Jefferson wrote: “
. . . there will be another good work, a very good one, published here soon by a m(
~
r)
Mazzei who has been many years a resident of Virginia, is well informed, and professes a masculine understanding. I should
rather have said it will be published in Holland, for I believe it cannot be printed here . . .
”
Again, on January 14, 1787, he wrote to Louis Guillaume Otto: “
. . . Mazzei will print soon 2. or 3. vol(
~s
)
8
vo. of Recherches historiques & politiques sur les etats unis d’Ameriques, which are sensible . . .
”
For a note on Mazzei see no. 2443. The
Recherches was written originally in
Italian; this translation into
French was made by M. Faure, with the exception of Chapter VIII, Volume IV,
De la société de Cincinnatus, translated by the Marquise de Condorcet, and Chapter IX,
Du général Washington & du marquis de la Fayette, relativement à la société de Cincinnatus, translated by her husband, the Marquis de Condorcet.
For a separate edition of the
Lettres d’un Bourgeois de New-Heaven [sic]
à un Citoyen de Virginie
(vol. I) by the Marquis de Condorcet, see no. 2443, and for a separate reprint by Benjamin Franklin’s
De l’Emigration
(Vol. IV, Chapter VII), see no. 2567.
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280
Constitutions of the several states of America.
8
vo.
Stockdale.
1815 Catalogue, page 96. no. 299, Constitutions of the States of America, 8
vo.
1839 Catalogue, page 357. no. J. 380, Constitutions of the several Independent States of America; the Declaration of Independence;
and the Articles of Confederation: to which are added, the Declaration of Rights, the Non-Importation Agreement; and the Petition
of Congress to the King, delivered by Mr. Penn, &c.: the whole arranged, with a Preface, by William Jackson, 8vo; London,
1783.
The Constitutions of the several independent States of America; the Declaration of Independence; and the Articles of Confederation
between the said States. To which are now added, the Declaration of Rights; the Non-Importation Agreement; and the Petition
of Congress to the King delivered by Mr. Penn. With an Appendix, containing the treaties between his most Christian Majesty
and the United States of America; the provisional treaty with America; and (never before published) an authentic copy of the
Treaty concluded between their high mightinesses the States-General, and the United States of America. The whole arranged,
with a preface and dedication, by the Rev. William Jackson.
London: printed for
J. Stockdale,
1783.
JK18 1783a
8vo. 240 leaves in eights; sig. Aa in the second alphabet is followed by sig. Dd, and the pagination jumps from 367 to 401
but the text appears to be perfect; 3 pages of
Stockdale’s advertisements at the end.
This edition not in Sabin who has other editions by Stockdale.
Jefferson purchased a copy of this book from Stockdale, calf, gilt, price
7/6, in September 1784.
On page xxviii Jefferson is mentioned as one of the signers of the Petition of September 4, 1775, to King George III. By an
error his name, with that of other Virginia signers, is placed under Pennsylvania. On page 9 his name occurs as one of the
Signers of the Declaration of Independence.
The Constitutions of the Several Independent States was first printed by Bailey in Philadelphia in 1781, and was frequently
reprinted. Stockdale’s first edition appeared in 1782. The issue described here is not in Sabin, who has another edition of
the same year with
Second Edition on the title-page, and which is preceded by an engraved portrait by W. Sharp, purporting to be of George Washington, dated
Feb. 22, 1783. This edition collates the same as the one described and has the same errors in the list of Signers of the Petition.
William Jackson, 1751-1815, Bishop of Oxford.
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