Entered by Jefferson in his undated manuscript catalogue, with the price 2.10.

Niels Horrebow, 1712-1760, Danish traveller and author, published the original edition of his Tilforladelige Efterretninger om Island in 1752.

Johann Anderson, 1674-1743, German traveller. His Nachrichten von Island was published in 1746, and it was to correct the errors of this book that Horrebow wrote his account of Iceland.

Jacques Philibert Rousselot de Surgy, 1737-1772, and Meslin translated Horrebow’s book into French from a German version, not from the Danish original.

Jefferson’s copy was sent to him by the author from Albany, New York, on October 18, 1803, thirteen years after the publication of the book, with a letter explanatory of the delay (received by Jefferson on March 17, 1804): “As few Americans have tho’t proper to submit their observations & travels in other Countries to the press; my Short Tour in Holland was on that account Considered Interesting, & I submitted to its publication Several years ago, without however being at that time known as the Author.

"But Since the fact has become Notorious, will you Sir, do me the honor to accept, the Inclosed little essay as a Small token of my profound Respect & Veneration.”

Jefferson replied from Washington on March 24, 1804: “ Th: Jefferson returns his thanks to m( ^~ r) Watson for the copy of his travels which he was so kind as to send him, and which he shall peruse with pleasure at his first moments of leisure, & he tenders him his salutations & respects. ”

The book is written in the form of letters to various correspondents, dated from May 24 to June 23, 1784. At the end is The Origin and Description of the United Provinces, followed by an Appendix on the Dutch East Indies. Letter VIII, dated from The Hague, June 3, contains an account of the alleged invention of printing with movable type by Koster of Haarlem rather than by Gutenberg of Mainz: . . . It was in this forest [i.e. outside Haarlem], that the celebrated Laurensz Jansez Koster, alderman of Hærlem, first suggested the invention of printing with types, in 1440. He was rambling carelessly alone, and amusing himself in cutting out letters in pieces of wood; with which he made some impressions, which led to the types: And it is to this fortunate chance that mankind owe the facility of communicating their ideas. John Faust, a servant of the Alderman’s, stole off the types to Mentz, where he pretended to conjuration, and assumed to himself the merit of the discovery. This is the same Doctor Faustus so much known among the vulgar in America for his league with the devil, &c . . .

Elkanah Watson, 1758-1842, agriculturist, merchant and canal promoter, corresponded with Jefferson in later years on agricultural matters. He was born in Plymouth, Mass., but in 1774 was bound to John Brown in Providence, Rhode Island. He travelled in Europe and England, and later, in 1789, settled in Albany, from where this book was sent to Jefferson. In addition to his agricultural interests, Watson was an energetic promoter of canals.