the United States. For a full account of this book, with a facsimile of the title-page and a translation, see the Publications of the Buffalo Historical Society, Volume Eighteen, where it is described as “one of the rarest of books relating to New York.” The translation was made by Mr. H. F. DePuy, who states in his Introductory Note: “The copy from which this translation was made was purchased in 1913 from one of the Amsterdam dealers in rare books. The title is given in Sabin’s ‘Dictionary of Books relating to America,’ but he does not state the location of any copy. The only copy of which I can find any sale-record is in the catalogue of S. L. M. Barlow. That was sold in 1889 for $4.50. The location is not now known. The New York Historical Society has a copy. There is no copy in the New York Public Library, nor did the New York State Library posess a copy before the fire . . .”

With regard to the map, the editor notes that it is a “great curiosity, especially to printers. It was not engraved, but ‘set’ or composed with movable type, printer’s rule and furniture. It is a close copy of the original Holland Land Co.’s map of 1800. This very rare book is of decided interest in its bearing on the early operations of the Holland Land Company . . .”

Jefferson is mentioned several times in the book, for which the Notes on the State of Virginia was part of the source material. Chapter XXXIII in Volume I gives an account of an Interview with Mr. Jefferson, on October 5, 1806. Melish had presented himself unannounced at the President’s house at 8:00 a.m. without letters of introduction, which his friends had assured him would be unnecessary, as Mr. Jefferson was a man of no ceremony. He was treated with great courtesy, and eventually took his leave, “highly pleased with the affability, intelligence, and good sense, of the President of America”.

Chapter XXXVI in the same volume is taken almost entirely from Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia. The chapter opens:

“Before I proceed to give a general account of this state, I may notice, that a most important service has been rendered to its geography, by the publication of the Notes of Mr. Jefferson; a work replete with valuable information, and exhibiting in every page the marks of a vigorous intellect and a philosophic mind. This work may be justly considered as the basis of the geography of the state of Virginia; and though, from the progressive nature of the subject, it does not now contain the necessary information, on some points; yet the traveller, in this state, will find it a most valuable companion; and by giving it a careful perusal will be amply rewarded for his trouble.

“The Notes were written in the year 1781, and somewhat corrected and enlarged in 1782, in answer to queries proposed to the author, by a foreigner of distinction (M. de Marbois, secretary of the French legation), then residing in America . . .”

The Notes are also used, with acknowledgments, for information given in other chapters.

John Melish entered into correspondence with Jefferson on February 16, 1811, when in a long letter so dated from New York, he reminded Jefferson that in October 1806, he had had the pleasure of a short conversation with him. This letter was acknowledged by Jefferson from Monticello on March 10. On January 18, 1812, Melish sent to Jefferson the Outlines of Travels in the United States. Plan of the Work, 8 printed pages, and the Proposal to Publish by Subscription, in Two Volumes