8vo. 262 leaves, the last 2 for the publisher’s list of works by the same author.
Seligman VI, page 350.
Thomas, page 173.
Rebound in half brown morocco by the Library of Congress in 1903. Initialled by Jefferson at sig. I and T.
This book was sent to Jefferson by the author, and may be the one referred to in an undated letter reading in part: “Dr. Price presents his best respects toMr Jefferson and takes the liberty to introduce to him (Mr Ashburnham) the young person
who is the bearer of this note . . .
"The Book and the Pamphlet w
ch. accompany this note Dr. Price presents to Mr Jefferson not from any opinion of their value, but merely as a testimony of
the high respect which he always feels for Mr Jefferson, and of his gratitude to him for the satisfaction and instruction
he has received from Mr Jefferson’s
Notes on the State of Virginia
.”
Jefferson wrote to Dr. Price from Paris on July 11, 1788: “
. . . I thank you, my dear Sir, for the volume you were so kind as to send me some time ago. every thing you write is precious,
and this volume is on the most precious of all our concerns. we may well admit morality to be the child of the understanding
rather than of the senses, when we observe that it becomes dearer to us as the latter weaken, & as the former grows stronger
by time & experience till the hour arrives in which all other objects lose all their value . . .
”
Entered on Jefferson’s undated manuscript catalogue.
Richard Price, 1723-1791, Welsh nonconformist minister and writer on morals, politics and economics, was in frequent correspondence with
Jerfferson, and a friend of Franklin. Jefferson knew his work as early as 1776. On July 29 of that year he wrote to Richard
Henry Lee: “
I inclose you D
r. Price’s pamphlet. I should have done so sooner but understood your brother was sending many to Virginia, & not doubting
one would be to you, I laid by the one I had purchased for that purpose . . .
”
[1248]
J. 12
Traité de Morale et de bonheur.
2. v. in 1.
12
mo.
1815 Catalogue, page 59. no. 32, Traite elementaire de Morals et du Bonheur, 2 v in 18s.
[PARADIS
de RAYMONDIS, Jean Zacharie.]
Traité élémentaire de Morale et du Bonheur. Pour servir de Prolégomènes ou de suite à la collection des Moralistes. Volume
I [-II].
A
Paris: [de l’Imprimerie de
Delamarre] l’An Troisième,
1795.
BJ1075 .P2
2 vol. 24mo. Vol. I, 157 leaves; vol. II, 153 leaves.
Barbier IV, col. 798.
Quérard VI, 589.
Jefferson’s copy, as described in his manuscript catalogue, and also in his undated catalogue, was bound in 1 volume. The 1815 catalogue calls for 2 volumes.
Rebound by the Library of Congress in 2 volumes, red morocco, gilt line borders in 1903. The initial T written before sig.
1 in both volumes looks doubtful but was probably written by Jefferson. On the title-page of volume I, in a contemporary hand, is written:
Par Jean Zacharie de Raymondis. On the half-title of both volumes is stamped
J. Alvares-Deleons book; on a fly-leaf are the initials
H.C.F. with the date
June 9, 1808; on fly-leaves are written the headings of some of the chapters, signed
A Delanaitre, 1796; some leaves badly stained.
Jefferson ordered a copy of this book in a letter to
N. G. Dufief written from Monticello on September 18, 1813: “
. . . I would also thank you for 2 copies, if to be had, of the little French work Du bonheur et de la morale. it was published
in Paris in petit format, without the author’s name. it is the best general treatise on Morals, either antient or modern which
I have ever seen, & deserves well a good translation into our language. I think it would be a work of great sale . . .
””
Dufief replied on September 29: “. . . Le traité du Bonheur et de la Morale ne se trouve, à Philad
e, chez aucun libraire. Vous serait-il égal de l’avoir de hasard? Car, je crois pouvoir vous en procurer un exemplaire. Je
serais charmé de voir un aussi bon ouvrage traduit en Anglais, avec quelques notes.”
On November 7, Jefferson wrote:
