the precious Metals which have flowed from Mexico into Europe and Asia, since the Discovery of the New Continent, and the
Military Defence of New Spain. By Alexander de Humboldt. With Physical Sections and Maps, founded on Astronomical Observations, and Trigonometrical and Barometrical Measurements.
Translated from the original
French, by John Black. Vol. I. [-II.]
New-York: printed and published by
I. Riley,
1811.
F1211 .H921
2 vol. 8vo. 175 and 189 leaves.
Sabin 33715.
Cowan I, page 296.
Jefferson’s copy was bound by Milligan on May 14, 1811, cost $2.00.
This is a translation into
English of the third part,
Essai Politique [see the previous entry], of the
Voyage de Humboldt et Bonpland
.
The references to Jefferson, quoted above, occur in Volume I on pages xlviii and 13, in Volume II on page 231.
For Von Humboldt, see the previous entry.
John Black, 1783-1855, Scottish journalist, first published his translation of Von Humboldt’s work in London in four volumes, octavo,
with an atlas of plates. The New York edition is not complete but no more was published.
[4158]
161
Compendio della Storia del Chile.
Bologna.
1776.
p. 8
vo.
1815 Catalogue, page 122, no. 223, as above,
8vo [
dal Moline?].
[MOLINA,
Juan Ignacio.]
Compendio della Storia Geografica, Naturale, e Civile del Regno del Chile.
Bologna
mdcclxxvi
. Nella Stamperîa di
S. Tommaso d’Aquino con licenza de’ Superiori. [1776.]
F3058 .M72
First Edition. 8vo. 127 leaves, engraved folded map of Chile, 10 engraved plates of natural history, costume, etc., some folded,
by Gio. Fabbri; imprimatur at the end dated Die 5. Februarij 1776.
Not in Melzi.
This edition not in Sabin.
Palau V, 207.
Winsor VIII, 347.
Silva 115.
Backer V, 1165, 3.
Barros Arana 106.
See Medina,
Bibliotheca Hispano-Chilena III, 597.
In a letter to William Short dated from New York April 27, 1790, Jefferson mentioned: “
. . . Molini was commissioned by me to procure from Italy the Abbé Molina’s book on Chili . . .”
Sixteen years later, on January 22, 1806, a copy was sent to Jefferson by Francisco de Miranda, who wrote from New York: “J’ai l’honneur de vous envoyer ci-jointe la Storia Naturale e Civile del Chile, dont nous avons parlé à Washington:--Vous-y
trouverez peut être plus des faites interessants, et plus de Science dans ce petit volume, que dans tous ceux qui ont êté
ecrits auparavant sur la propre matiere, concernant ce beau pays . . .”
On January 15, 1809, in a letter dated from Washington to Charles Willson Peale, Jefferson wrote: “
. . . I have lately seen Molina’s account of Chili in which, correcting Buffon’s classification of the wooly animals, he speaks
of one, the Chilihueco, or Chili sheep, which may possibly be the same with the fleecy goat of Gov
r. Lewis . . .
”
An edition in English of Molina’s work had been published in the previous year in Middletown, Connecticut, and it is possible
that Jefferson’s reference was to that publication.
Juan Ignacio Molina, 1740-1829, was born in Chile, where he entered the Jesuit order in 1755. On the expulsion of the Jesuits from the country
he was sent to Italy, and immediately began to write the history of his country. The first edition was published in Italian
in 1776, the first edition in Spanish in 1788. This work was formerly ascribed to Molina’s companion in exile, Gomez de Vidaurre,
and is so ascribed in a contemporary hand in one of the copies in the Library of Congress.
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