printed in Hartford in 1782, there is no information as to which of these editions was in Jefferson’s library.
Jefferson’s copy was sent to him by the author, who wrote from Hartford on June 21, 1784: “I have presumed to desire my Friend, Col. Humphrys, to present to your Excellency a copy of M
c.Fingal. Poets in all ages have aspired to the patronage & esteem of the most illustrious characters of their times. But while
I wish for the honour of being approved by a gentleman, who joins to his public virtues, so great a share of literary merit,
I must own that I depend more on the partiality of patriotism to the productions of our native country, than on any merit
my own vanity can ascribe to the poem or its author--I have the honor to be with the greatest respect, Your Excellency’s most
obedient, humble servant.”
It is entered by Jefferson in his undated manuscript catalogue.
A copy was bound for Jefferson in calf, gilt, by John March on June 30, 1807, cost fifty cents.
John Trumbull, 1750-1831, poet and jurist, a native of Connecticut, and educated at Yale. The first canto of
M’Fingal was published in 1775. At the conclusion of the war, Trumbull rearranged his poem, and added two cantos. It was then published
by Hudson and Goodwin in Hartford in 1782, and by many other printers. More than thirty pirated editions are said to have
been printed. It was the publication of this poem that gave Trumbull the leadership of the Hartford Wits. David Humphreys
was doubtless used as the messenger as he and Jefferson were on the verge of sailing for Paris.
[4509]
58
Eloge de la folie d’Erasme. par Gueudeville.
12
mo.
1815 Catalogue, page 145, no. 14, as above.
ERASMUS,
Desiderius.
L’Eloge de la Folie, composé en forme de Déclamation, par Erasme, et traduit par Mr. Gueudeville. Avec les Notes de Gerard Listre, et les belles Figures de Holbein: Le tout sur l’Original de l’Académie de Basle. Nouvelle edition, Revue avec soin, & mise dans un meilleur ordre. A
Amsterdam, chez
François L’Honore.
m. dcc. xxviii
. Avec Privilege. [1728].
8vo. 135 leaves, engraved frontispiece, title printed in red and black with fleuron by
B. Picart, 76 vignettes engraved in the text after the designs of Holbein, 6 folded engraved plates, not signed.
Quérard III, 27.
Graesse II, 495.
Vander Haeghen,
Bibliotheca Erasmiana, page 153.
Lewine, page 170.
This work was placed by Jefferson in Chapter XVI as well as in the present chapter. In the 1815 Library of Congress Catalogue there is a note to that effect and the reader
referred to Chapter 36, no. 14. Jefferson’s entry in his undated manuscript catalogue includes the description
figures de Holbein and the price,
4.10.
Desiderius Erasmus, 1466-1536, Dutch scholar and theologian.
Moriae Encomium was written by him in the house of Sir Thomas More in London, and first printed in Paris in 1511.
Nicolas Gueudeville, c. 1650-c. 1700, French journalist and translator, published the first edition of his translation of the
Moriae Encomium of Erasmus in 1713.
Hans Holbein, 1497-1543, German artist. Erasmus was one of his earliest patrons, and the original pen and ink drawings for
Moriae Encomium are now in the Basle Museum.
[4510]
59
Jonathan Pindar’s Probationary odes.
12
mo.
1815 Catalogue, page 146, no. 22, as above.
[TUCKER,
St. George.]
The Probationary Odes of Jonathan Pindar, Esq. A Cousin of Peter’s, and Candidate for the Post of Poet Laureate to the C.U.S.
In Two Parts . . .
Phila-
