“ insuperable bar was that he could not complete it under three weeks, a time I could not wait for it. Dunlap happened to be out of town; so I relinquished the plan. perhaps I may have a few copies struck off in Paris if there be an English Printer there. if I do you shall assuredly have one. I shall take the liberty of adding some of your notes. those which were amendatory merely will have their effect on the body of the work . . . ”

In a letter to Madison written four days later, on May 25, Jefferson mentioned: “ . . . I could not get my notes printed here and therefore refer it till I shall cross the water where I will have a few copies struck off and send you one . . . ”

Jefferson arrived in Paris in August, 1784. A letter written to him by Francis Hopkinson, dated from Philadelphia, November 18, suggested the possibility of printing the Notes: “. . . If you should have any Copies of your Account of Virginia struck off, I shall be much mortified if you do not consider me as one of those friends whom you would wish to gratify . . .”

Before December of that year Jefferson was himself considering the printing of the Notes. On December 10 he wrote to James Monroe: “ . . . I could not get my answer to the queries on Virginia printed in Philadelphia; but I am printing it here, & will certainly ask your acceptance of a copy . . . ”

On March 6, 1785, Charles Thomson, in a letter to Jefferson from New York, suggested the advisability of committing the Notes to the press: “. . . I long to see your answer to M ^r M’s queries. I hope by this time you have found liesure [ sic -- Ed. ] to revise and compleat that work and have committed it to the press or at least struck off some copies for the satisfaction of your friends, among whom I hope to be ranked. I submit it to your consideration whether you do not owe it to your reputation to publish your work under a more dignified title. In the state in which I saw it I consider it a most excellent Natural history not merely of Virginia but of N ^o America and possibly equal if not superior to that of any country yet published . . .”

The work was already in hand, and Philippe Denis Pierres finished printing an edition of two hundred copies on May 10, 1785. The following day, May 11, Jefferson wrote of this to James Madison: “ . . . they yesterday finished printing my notes. I had 200 copies printed, but do not put them out of my own hands, except two or three copies here, & two which I shall send to America, to yourself & Col ^o. Monroe, if they can be ready this evening as promised. in this case you will receive one by Mons ^r. Doradour. I beg you to peruse it carefully because I ask your advice on it & ask nobody’s else. I wish to put it into the hands of the young men at the college, as well on account of the political as physical parts. but there are sentiments on some subjects which I apprehend might be displeasing to the country perhaps to the assembly or to some who lead it. I do not wish to be exposed to their censure, nor do I know how far their influence, if exerted, might effect a misapplication of law to such a publication were it made. communicate it then in confidence to those whose judgments & information you would pay respect to: & if you think it will give no offence I will send a copy to each of the students of W.M.C. and some others to my friends & to your disposal. otherwise I shall only send over a very few copies to particular friends in confidence & burn the rest.--answer me soon & without reserve. do not view me as an author, & attached to what he has written. I am neither. they were at first intended only for Marbois. when I had enlarged them, I thought first of giving copies to three or four friends. I have since supposed they might set our young students into a useful train of thought. and in no event do I propose to admit them to go to the public at large. a variety of accidents have postponed my writing to you till I have no further time to continue my letter. the next packet will sail from Havre. I will then send your books & write more fully. but answer me immediately on the preceding subject . . . ”

Jefferson immediately began distributing a portion of the 200 copies to friends in the United States and in Europe. In most if not all of these copies he wrote similarly worded gift inscriptions, explaining that the desire of a friend to possess some of the details contained in the Notes had occasioned him to revise them in the winter of 1782, the year after the original had been sent to Marbois, and stating that he was unwilling to expose them to the public eye, and requesting the recipient therefore “to put them into the hands of no person on whose care and fidelity he cannot rely to guard them against publication.”