The death in Paris late in 1785 or early in 1786, of Charles Williamos [the translator of Lavoisier, q.v. no. 1222] and the consequent acquisition by a bookseller of the copy of the Notes given to him by Jefferson, caused the latter to consent to a translation into French, to forestall the “surreptitious” translation intended by the dealer. Jefferson mentioned this in a letter dated from Paris February 2, 1786, addressed to Charles W. F. Dumas, the American consul at the Hague: “ . . . I thank you for what you say of the Notes on Virginia. it is much more than they deserve: tho the various matters they touch on would have been beyond the information of any one person whatever to have treated fully, and infinitely beyond mine, yet had I, at the time of writing them, had any thing more in view than the satisfying a single individual, they should have been more attended to both in form & matter. poor as they are, they have been thought worthy of a surreptitious translation here, with the appearance of which very soon I have been threatened. this has induced me to yeild to a friendly proposition from the Abbé Morellet to translate & publish them himself, submitting the sheets previously to my inspection. as a translation by so able a hand will lessen the faults of the original instead of their being multiplied by a hireling translator, I shall add to it a map, and such other advantages as may prevent the mortification of my seeing it appear in the injurious form threatened. I shall with great pleasure send a copy of the original to you by the first opportunity, praying your acceptance of it. ”

Dumas replied to this on February 12: “. . . Pourquoi me remercieriez-vous, Monsieur, de n’avoir fait que rendre justice à votre Ouvrage? Plût-à Dieu que nous eussions des Descriptions pareilles, je n’ose dire de toutes les parties du monde, mais seulement de notre Europe. J’accepte avec beaucoup de reconnoissance l’exemplaire original que votre bonté me destine.--Cela ne m’empêchera pas d’acquérir la Traduction de Mr. l’Abbe Morellet quand je la saurai publiée . . .”

Two months later, on April 11, 1786, Dumas acknowledged the receipt of his copy: “. . . J’ai reçu les précieuses Notes sur la Virginie, & les relis avec tout l’intérêt que je prends à la matiere, & la reconnoissance due au généreux Auteur. Les Additions & la Carte annoncées pour la Traduction, nous font espérer impatie( ^-m)ent que Mr. Morelet se hâte de la faire paroître . . .”

Meanwhile, on February 8, Jefferson had written to James Madison: “ . . . I thank you for your information as to my Notes. the copies I have remaining shall be sent over to be given to some of my friends and to select subjects in the college. I have been unfortunate here with this trifle. I gave out a few copies only, & to confidential persons writing in every copy a restraint against it’s publication. among others I gave a copy to a m ( ^~ r) Williamos. he died. I immediately took every precaution I could to recover this copy. but by some means or other a bookseller had got hold of it. he had employed a hireling translator and was about publishing it in the most injurious form possible. an Abbé Morellet, a man of letters here to whom I had given a copy, got notice of this. he had translated some passages for a particular purpose: and he compounded with the bookseller to translate & give him the whole, on his declining the first publication. I found it necessary to confirm this, and it will be published in French, still mutilated however in it’s freest parts. I am now at a loss what to do as to England. every thing, good or bad, is thought worth publishing there; and I apprehend a translation back from the French and publication there. I rather believe it will be most eligible to let the original come out in that country: but am not yet decided . . . ”

Madison answered this from Orange on May 12: “. . . Your Notes having got into print in France will inevitably be translated back & published in that form, not only in England but in America, unless you give out the original. I think therefore you owe it not only to yourself, but to the place you occupy & the subjects you have handled, to take this precaution. To say nothing of the injury which will certainly result to the diction from a translation first into French & then back into English, the ideas themselves may possibly be so perverted as to lose their propriety . . .”