“ know what book i mean, when i tell you, that he, who indulged me with the reading of it informed me, that the author had not yet resolved to publish it. I shall re-rejoice to find myself judged worthy one of those copies already printed, if there will be no more . . .”

In this he was disappointed, and on August 13 Jefferson wrote: “ Your favors of Jan. 10. & Feb. 10. came to hand on the 20 ^th. & 23 ^d of May. I availed myself of the first opportunity which occurred, by a gentleman going to England, of sending to m ( ^~ r) Joddrel a copy of the Notes on our country, with a line informing him that it was you who had emboldened me to take that liberty. Madison, no doubt, informed you of the reason why I had sent only a single copy to Virginia. being assured by him that they will not do the harm I had apprehended, but on the contrary may do some good, I propose to send thither the copies remaining on hand, which are fewer than I had intended. but of the numerous corrections they need, there are one or two so essential that I must have them made, by printing a few new leaves & substituting them for the old. this will be done while they are engraving a map which I have constructed of the country from Albemarle sound to Lake Erie, & which will be inserted in the book. a bad French translation which is getting out here, will probably oblige me to publish the original more freely, which it neither deserved nor was ever intended. your wishes, which are laws to me, will justify my destining a copy for you. otherwise I should as soon have thought of sending you a horn-book; for there is no truth there that is not familiar to you, and it’s errors I should hardly have proposed to treat you with . . . ”

Jefferson apparently did not send a copy to Wythe for another year. On September 16, 1787, he wrote to him a long letter from Paris, and sent him at the same time a box of books: “ . . . I send you herewith a state of the contents of the box, and for whom each article is. among these are some as you will perceive, of which I ask your acceptance. it is a great comfort to me that while here I am able to furnish some amusement to my friends by sending them such productions of genius, antient & modern, as might otherwise escape them: and I hope they will permit me to avail myself of the occasion, while it lasts . . . ”

With this he enclosed a list of the contents of the box, which included

“ 10. copies of the Notes on Virginia for M ^r. Wythe, P. Carr, m ( ^~ r) Madison, m( ^~ r) Page, m( ^~ r) Bellini, Gen ^l. Nelson, m ( ^~ r) D. Jamieson, Col ^o. Innes, Col ^o. Rich ^d. Cary of Warwick, & Col ^o. Wilson Miles Cary.

37. copies for such young gentlemen of the college as m( ^~ r) Wythe from time to time shall think proper, taking one or more for the college library.”

Wythe acknowledged the receipt of this box on the day it arrived, July 10, 1788.

In a letter written to the Rev. James Madison at Williamsburg a month earlier, on August 13, Jefferson had explained that he was sending books to him in the box addressed to Mr. Wythe: “ . . . in the same box I will put for you . . . a number of my Notes on Virginia, of a copy of which you will be pleased to accept, it is a poor crayon, which yourself & the gentlemen who issue from your school must fill up . . . ”

A letter from Jefferson to William Carmichael, at the time in Madrid, dated from Paris December 26, 1786, mentioned the necessity of reprinting a few leaves: “ . . . my Notes on Virginia, having been hastily written, need abundance of corrections. two or three of these are so material that I am reprinting a few leaves to substitute for the old. as soon as these shall be ready, I will beg your acceptance of a copy. I shall be proud to be permitted to send a copy also to the Count de Campomanes as a tribute to his science & his virtues. you will find in them that the Natural bridge had found an admirer in me also. I should be [ ] to make with you the tour of the curiosities you will find therein [ ] that kind of pleasure surpasses much in my estimation whatever I [ ] this side the Atlantic. I sometimes think of building a little hermitage at the Natural bridge (for it is my property) and of passing there a [ ] of the year at least . . .” [This letter was damaged. Blank spaces denote missing words.]