It cannot be stated with certainty which issue of the first edition was sold by Jefferson to Congress. The earlier copies were printed without the appended material. The Library of Congress Catalogue of 1815 specifies only “Original edition”, the later catalogues call for the “First edition.”

The Notes on the State of Virginia owed their origin to a set of questions formulated by Marbois (later De Barbé Marbois), the Secretary of the French Embassy at Philadelphia, and distributed through Joseph Jones to the governors or other dignitaries of the various States. The questions delivered to Jefferson, in the handwriting of Jones, are in the Jefferson papers in the Library of Congress, and consist of 22 numbered queries written on 2 pages quarto, headed Articles of which you are requested to give some details.

Jefferson had received the questions before November 30, 1780, on which day he wrote from Richmond (being Governor of Virginia at the time) to the Chevalier D’Anmours: “ . . . I am at present busily employed for moñs ^r. Marbois without his knowing it, and have to acknolege to him the mysterious obligation for making me much better acquainted with my own country than I ever was before. his queries as to this country put into my hands by m ( ^~ r) Jones I take every occasion which presents itself of procuring answers to. some of them however can never be answered till I shall [ have] leisure to go to Monticello where alone the materials exist which can enable any one to answer them . . .”

On March 4 of the following year, 1781, Jefferson wrote to Marbois: “ I have been honoured with your letter of Feb. 5. m( ^~ r) Jones did put into my hands a paper containing sundrieg [sic] enquiries into the present state of Virginia which he informed me was from yourself, some of which I meant to do myself the honour of answering. hitherto it has been in my power to collect a few materials only, which my present occupations disable me from compleating. I mean however shortly to be in a condition which will leave me quite at leisure to take them up when it shall certainly be one of my first undertakings to give you as full information as I shall be able to do on such of the subjects as are within the sphere of my acquaintance. on some of them however I trust m ( ^~ r) Jones will engage abler hands. those in particular which relate to the Commerce of the state, a subject with which I am wholly unacquainted, and which is probably the most important in your plan . . . ”

On December 20 he again wrote to Marbois: “ I now do myself the honour of inclosing you answers to the quaeries which Mr. Jones put into my hands. I fear your patience has been exhausted in attending them, but I beg you to be assured there has been no avoidable delay on my part. I retired from the public service in June only, and after that the general confusion of our state put it out of my power to procure the informations necessary till lately. Even now you will find them very imperfect and not worth offering but as a proof of my respect for your wishes. I have taken the liberty of referring to you my friend Mr. Charles Thompson for a perusal of them when convenient to you. Particular reasons subsisting between him and myself induced me to give you this trouble . . . ”