J. 39
Priestley’s Harmony of the evangelists.
Gr.
Eng.
4
to.
2. vols.
1815 Catalogue, page 67. no. 158, as above.
PRIESTLEY,
Joseph.
A Harmony of the Evangelists, in
Greek; to which are prefixed, Critical Dissertations in
English. By Joseph Priestley, LL.D. F.R.S.
London: Printed for
J. Johnson,
1777.--
A Harmony of the Evangelists, in English . . .
ib.
1780.
BS2560 .A2 P7
First Edition. Bound in 2 vol. 4to. with the title for
A Harmony of the Evangelists in
Greek
at the beginning of each volume; the title for the
Harmony in
English is at the end of vol. I and has the imprint dated 1780. The first volume contains the
Observations on the Harmony of the Evangelists, the second the
Harmony in
Greek and in
English conflated. Each volume has a catalogue of books by Joseph Priestley published by
J. Johnson. The
Harmony in
Greek is dedicated to the Rev. Richard Price, dated from Calne, January 1776.
The
Harmony in
English is prefaced by a Letter to Dr. Newcome, Bishop of Ossory, dated from
Caln, August 1779.
Fulton and Peters, page 11.
Rebound in ruby buckram in January 1924 by the Library of Congress. Initialled in both volumes by Jefferson, who has written
on the fly-leaf:
The gift of the author to Th: Jefferson.
Jefferson tried to obtain a copy through
N. G. Dufief in April 1803. On April 9, he wrote to the latter from Washington, ordering certain books including: “
D
r. Priestly’s Harmony of the evangelists in Greek. 4. vols. the same Harmony in English with notes & paraphrase. 4
to. D
r. Priestley being in Philadelphia can probably inform m
(
~
r)
Dufief if there be any depot of his works at any particular bookshop in Philadelphia . . .”
Dufief replied on April 13 that “
le Dr Priestley était parti depuis plusieurs jours and that he was therefore
d’autant plus fâché de cette circonstance qu’aucun des Libraires de Philadelphia, ne peut me procurer ceux de ses ouvrages
que vous demandez . . .
”
Dufief continued to search for the book, and on May 2 wrote to Jefferson: “Vous trouverez ci-inclus l’ouvrage de Pascal; j’espère pouvoir vous procurer aussi celui du D
r. Priestley--Après avoir tenté plusieurs moyens infructueux, à Philadelphie & à N. York, je viens de m’aviser du seul qui
me reste peut-être pour réussir, & dans quelques jours je saurai s’il faut y renoncer pour le présent . . .”
The
seul qui restait to Dufief was successful, and on August 1 John Vaughan wrote from Philadelphia to Jefferson: “M Dufief having applied to me to assist him in procuring D Priestlys Harmony for you, I took considerable pains to get it,
without success. As I thought it probable M
r. Priestly might have a copy, I requested him to spare it, I inadvertently mentioned your name, & have received a copy not
from him, but from D
r Priestley, who requests you will favor him by the acceptance of it . . .”
Jefferson replied to Vaughan from Monticello on August 14th: “
I am much obliged to you for the trouble you have taken in procuring a copy of D
r. Priestley’s harmony, yet fear at the same time we may have disfurnished him of the one retained for his own use . . .
”
On September 12 Dufief wrote to Jefferson: “. . . J’ai appris de Mr John Vaughan, à mon retour d’un petit voyage entrepris pour le rétablissement de ma santé, qu’il vous
avait adressé un des ouvrages du D
r. Pristley que je n’avais pu vous procurer--Je l’avais prié d’ecrire à ce sujet au D
r. avec qui il a des liaisons d’amitié--Je suis d’autant plus charmé de cette réussite que cet ouvrage est extrêmement rare
en Amérique & qu’il ne se trouve que dans quelques bibliothèques publiques. Je n’ai point oublié qu’il vous manque encore
deux ouvrages du même auteur, savoir
"disquisitions relating to matter & spirit.
"sequel to the disquisitions.
"Je continuerai mes recherches à ce Sujet.”
On December 12 Priestley wrote to Jefferson [f]rom Northumberland:
