“scattered among leaves of a manuscript acquired at the 1829 sale of Jefferson’s library.” It was reassembled by her by means
of an abstract prepared by Richard Hickman, a clerk in the Secretary’s office in 1727 (see the Bland Manuscript). It is still
a matter of doubt whether the manuscript was actually delivered to the Library of Congress in 1815 or whether it was acquired
with the 1829 purchase.
Names on the fly-leaf include Wm. Whitby Mathews, M Stegge, Francis West, William Claybourn (the Secretary of the Colony) and others, with dates
1639, 1621. The last named would tend to verify Jefferson’s suggestion as to the provenance of the manuscript in his letter
to George Wythe, quoted above.
[1823]
J. 59
M.S. Laws of Virginia. 1639. Jan. 6.--1642. Apr. 1.
1815 Catalogue, page 73. no. 193, as above, F. fol.
VIRGINIA.
Miscellaneous records, 1606-1692. The Bland Manuscript.
Manuscript on paper containing 118 separate numbered pieces, written by several hands on 257 leaves (exclusive of blanks),
folio, measuring 11½ by 8 inches, the pages numbered consecutively by an early hand, 1-514. Bound in at the end are Abstracts
of Rolls in the offices of State, written by R. Hickman, the Clerk of the Secretary’s office on 28 leaves, 4to., measuring
9½ by 7½ inches.
Jefferson, Hening List, no. 3.
Records of the Virginia Company I, pages 42, 46.
Virginia Historical Magazine, XIV, 264; XV, 26, sqq.
Hening I, 3, 57, etc. passim.
Library of Congress
Handbook of Manuscripts, page 504, no. 2.
Rebound in tree calf, rubbed, red morocco label on the back, lettered
Vir Records; cut close at the fore-edges. With the Library of Congress 1815 bookplate.
In his description of this manuscript to Wythe and to Hening, Jefferson has ignored the dates of the charters contained therein,
and has given only the dates of the laws. On the Wythe list his description reads: “
M.S. marked F. purchased from the adm(
~
r)
of Col
o Richard Bland dec
d. it contains laws from 1639 to 1667.
”
On the Hening list Jefferson’s description reads: “
3. a MS. marked F. purchased from the executor of Rich
d. Bland dec
d. containing laws of 1639. 1642. 1652. 1653. 1654. 1655. 1656. 1663. 1666.
”
The mark F was lost in the rebinding.
The manuscript was sent to Hening in June 1808, and its return acknowledged by Jefferson on April 8, 1815.
In addition to the laws as cited by Jefferson, the manuscript contains the Charters of the Virginia Company, quoted by Stith
in his Appendix, and which are to be found in other MSS. in this collection. The Hickman transcripts at the end, taken from
the manuscript in lot 122 in the sale of 1829, are incomplete and lack the lists of Governors stated by Hening to be present.
Richard Bland, 1710-1776, statesman. In a letter to William Wirt, dated from Monticello, August 5, 1815, Jefferson thus described him: . . . Your characters are inimitably & justly drawn. I am not certain if more might not be said of Colo. Richard Bland. he was the most learned & logical man of those who took prominent lead in public affairs, profound in Constitutional lore, a most ungraceful speaker (as were Peyton Randolph & Robinson in a remarkable degree) he wrote the first pamphlet on the nature of the connection with Gr. Britian, which had any pretension to accuracy of view on that subject, but it was a singular one. he would set out sound principles, pursue them logically till he found them leading to the precipice which we had to leap, start back alarmed then resume his ground, go over it in another direction, be led again by the correctness of his reasoning to the same place, and again back about and try other processes to reconcile right and wrong, but finally left his reader & himself bewildered between the steady index of the compass in their hand, and the phantasm to which it seemed to point. still there was more sound matter in his pamplet than in the celebrated Farmer's letters which were really but an ignis fatuus, misleading us from true principles . . .
Jefferson bought a number of books from Bland's library after the latter's death.
[1824]
J. 60
M.S. laws of Virginia. 1642/3 Mar. 2.--1661/2 Mar. 23.
1815 Catalogue, page 73. no. 194, as above,
D. fol.
VIRGINIA.
Legislature. Journal of Council and Assembly. 1642-1662. The Edmund Randolph Manuscript.
Manuscript of the early eighteenth century, written on both sides of 156 leaves of paper, 312 numbered pages, folio, measuring
3½ by 9 inches, ruled in red.
Not on the Jefferson Hening list.
Hening I, 238 sqq. II, 9 sqq.
Virginia Magazine XIV, page 265.
Library of Congress
Handbook of Manuscripts, page 505, no. 8.
Rebound in calf, label on the back lettered:
MS. /
Laws of /
Virginia 1642-1662. The mark
D called for the 1815 catalogue as above, was lost in the rebinding.
This is the manuscript described by Jefferson on his list to George Wythe in January, 1796, as: “
M.S. marked D. purchased from the adm(
~
r)
of Col
o Richard Bland dec
d. it contains laws from 1642/3 to 1661/2.
” It was omitted from the list sent on June 7, 1808, to Hening who used the manuscript in the
Statutes at Large
, and attributed the ownership to Edmund Randolph.
Hening referred to the manuscript in a letter to Jefferson written from Richmond on July 31, 1809: “. . . Of the MSS. received from you, those containing the laws from 1639 to 1660 inclusive, ”
