“ am no author. I lost my Sketches of Maryland & so on Southerly & perhaps it is for the best--cou’d not you help me to them in case of a Second Edition--Pardon the Thought--It is not Vanity that Inspires it, but a desire that this Second Edition might be more usefull & more correct than the first.-- As I was Saying I am no author mais Seulement un Ecriveur, which my Singular destiny has led from the actual Cultivation of my Fields to be a Consul, & from Sketching what I saw & Felt, for a Friend, to be an author--I am but a Scribbler after all, but if the Europeans can form a better Idea of the united States than before I am Satisfyed; for altho’ a French Consul I am a Citisen of one of these states & a Considerable Freeholder--if you had Some Anecdotes to Communicate me I’d willingly Inrich with them the Second reappearance of these 2 Vol: & shou’d Put your name to them--I have collected Materials enough for a 3 ^d. Vol: which wd be really Instructif if it wd thought Proper [ sic -- Ed. ] by the connoisseurs . . .”

Michel Guillaume St. Jean de Crèvecoeur, 1735-1813, who usually wrote as Hector St. John, was born in Normandy. He travelled in various parts of North America before settling on a farm near New York. The war compelled his return to France, but on its conclusion he returned to the United States. His last voyage was to France, where he died in 1813. This book, addressed to the author’s friend William Seton, was first published in London in 1782, and was reprinted in London and in the United States. The author himself translated his work into French; see the next following entry.

Entered by Jefferson without price in his undated manuscript catalogue.

This translation was made by de Crèvecoeur himself, and, his original manuscript being lost, he rewrote the whole book, with much additional matter. He sent the manuscript for publication to Pierre Louis Lacretelle, the elder, who prefixed to the first volume two Lettres servant d’Introduction addressed au Rédacteur du Mercure de France, the first dated 4 Janvier 1783, the second 24 Janvier 1784. Crèvecoeur’s dedication to the Marquis de la Fayette is dated from New-York, 24 Septembre 1781. This appears to be the first edition of the French version, though Boucher de la Richarderie, in his description of the edition of 1787 (see the next entry) states that there were two previous editions, the first in one volume, and the second in two volumes.