Sowerby Catalogue <h1>Volume II : page 14

J. 23

The System of nature (d’Holbach’s) Eng. 1st. vol. 12 ^mo.

1815 Catalogue, page 59. no. 97, The System of Nature, Eng. 1st vol. 8vo.

[HOLBACH, Paul Heinrich Dietrich, baron d’.]

System of Nature; or, the Laws of the Moral and Physical World. Translated from the French of M. Mirabaud, one of the forty Members of, and perpetual Secretary to, the French Academy . . . Part First. Volume First. Philadelphia: Published by R. Benson, 1808.

B2053 .S93 E13

12mo. vol. I only. 181 leaves, the last a blank; engraved frontispiece. Preface dated Jan. 1808.

Cushing, page 98.

Half calf repaired, original backstrip preserved. Initialled by Jefferson at sig. I and T.

In a letter to John Adams, dated from Monticello April 8, 1816, Jefferson wrote: “ . . . altho’ I never heard Grimm express the opinion directly, yet I always supposed him to be of the school of Diderot, D’Alembert, D’Holbach. the first of whom committed their system of atheism to writing in ‘ Le bon sens’, and the last in his ‘ Systeme de la Nature’. it was a numerous school in the Catholic countries, while the infidelity of the Protestant took generally the form of Theism . . . ”

Paul Heinrich Dietrich, Baron D’Holbach, 1723-1789, French philosopher. This work was originally published in French in 1770, under the name of Mirabaud. This is the first edition in English printed in America.

Jefferson’s statement in his letter to John Adams that Diderot was the author of Le Bon Sens was an error. The author was Holbach; see no. 1292.

[1260]

J. 24

[ sic -- Ed. ]

Hume’s essays. 1st. vol. 8 ^vo.

1815 Catalogue, page 57. no. 41, Hume’s Essays, 3d and 4th vols. 12mo.

From the above entries it is impossible to know which edition of Hume’s Essays was in Jefferson’s Library. The original entry in the 1815 catalogue was as above. In the contemporary working copy the entry is checked and the volume numbers are deleted.

In the later catalogues no edition is credited to the Jefferson Collection.

The copy of the Georgetown edition of 1817 sold at the auction of Jefferson’s books in 1829 is now in the Library of Congress.

In a letter to Thomas Mann Randolph dated from New York, May 30, 1790, Jefferson recommended books for his reading and mentioned that “ several of Hume’s political essays are good.”

For Jefferson and Hume see no. 370.

[1261]

J. 25

Oeuvres Philosophiques de Diderot. 3. v. 12 ^mo.

1815 Catalogue, page 58. no. 37, as above.

DIDEROT, Denis.

Oeuvres Philosophiques [et dramatiques] de M. Diderot. Tome Premier [-Troisième], [Tome Premier contenant les Principes de la Philosophie morale, ou Essai sur le Mérite & la Vertu, avec des Refléxions. Tome Second, contenant Lettre sur les Sourds & Muets, à l’usage de ceux qui entendent & qui parlent; Lettre sur les Aveugles, à l’usage de ceux qui voient. Tome Troisieme, contenant Pensées sur l’interprétation de la Nature: Pensées Philosophiques; Traité du Beau; la Philosophie des Chinois.] A Amsterdam: [ Marc Michel Rey] 1772.

B2012 .A2