“. . . The three folio vols. of the Laws of Virginia which you state in your former letter, to be in known hands, have not
yet been received--& M
r. Milligan has said
nothing to me on the subject . . .”
To this Jefferson replied on October 20: “
With respect to the 3. vols of Virginia laws, 2 of them are in my own possession, but at a distant place from which no conveyance
has yet occurred, but there will be one about the last of next month. the other
is a MS. volume of laws never yet printed. m
(
~
r)
. Hening had borrowed it, being the only copy now existing. he is engaged in having the inedited acts in it printed, and as
soon as that is done, it will be forwarded to you . . .
”
In February of the following year, 1816, Jefferson made an abortive attempt to send the books to Washington. On March 2 he
wrote to Watterston: “
. . . I sent the 2. vols of Virginia laws by my grandaughter Ellen Randolph, now at the President’s but she left them at Richmond,
the stage being too much loaded to take them in. I shall recall them here and see to their safe transportation . . .
”
On March 8 Watterston announced the receipt of the volumes. A Postscript to his letter of that date reads: “I have received the two vol
s. of the Virginia laws . . .”
For the other missing books, the Fugitive sheets and the Manuscript D see no. 1841 and 1825.
The series is as follows:
vol. 1. Pervis’s collection. 1661/2 Mar. 23.--1682 Nov. 10.
Law 10
A duplicate of no. 1832; imperfect, lacks the title and 2 leaves of dedication.
The labels on the back are lettered:
Laws of Virginia /
Vol I /
Pervis /
Monticello Library.
Initialled by Jefferson at sig. I and T. Manuscript notes in an early hand throughout. With the Library of Congress 1815 bookplate.
On the first leaf of the text (of which the margins are defective and repaired) Jefferson has written the title in full in the upper margin,
and in the fore-margin the following note (slightly cut into):
This book was given me by John Page of Rosewell whose grandfather Matthew Page of Rosewell was one of the committee appointed
by the act of ass. 1699. c. 8. to revise the laws. the marginal notes in this book seem to have been made by the s
d Matthew Page on that occasion. it was found among some old papers at Rosewell together with a manuscript copy of acts of
ass. from 1705. to 17
[ ]
which he also gave me. Th: J.
Pasted on a fly-leaf is a clipping from the
Richmond Dispatch, July 13, 1878, containing a reprint of a letter from Jno. Purvis, Virginia, to William Penn, dated May 21, 1684.
Small corrections by Jefferson occur.
[1837]
2. the Revisal of 1733. . . . 1661/2 Mar. 23.--1732. May 18.
This was a duplicate of no. 1833; it is now missing from the collection.
[1838]
3. the Revisal of 1748. . . . 1661/2 Mar. 23.--1748. Oct. 27.
The Acts of Assembly, now in Force, in the Colony of Virginia. With the Titles of such as are Expired, or Repealed; notes
in the Margin, shewing how, and at what Time they were repealed: and an exact Table to the Whole. Publish’d pursuant to an
order of the General Assembly.
Williamsburg: Printed by
William Hunter,
mdcclii
. --Anno Regni Georgii II . . . Twenty seventh day of February, in the twenty fifth year of the Reign . . .
1752.
Law 12
