10 vol. 8vo. and 1 vol. 4to. Vol. I, 268 leaves; vol. II, 298 leaves; vol. III, 292 leaves; vol. IV, 244 leaves; vol. V, 209
leaves; vol. VI, 248 leaves; vol. VII, 290 leaves; vol. VIII, 280 leaves; vol. IX, 214 leaves; vol. X, 274 leaves; engraved
portrait in vol. I by De Launat after Cochin, engraved frontispieces in vol. II-X after Moreau by Berthet, Bovinet, Jourdan and Villery; Atlas, 14 leaves of text, 50 engraved maps, numbered 1-17, 17 bis, 18-49; 22 printed tables.
Sabin 68081 (note).
Quérard VII, page 473.
Barbier II, 823.
De Ricci-Cohen, col. 855.
Contemporary French calf, gilt, marbled endpapers, sprinkled edges; the 4to. atlas cut down to 8vo. size and similarly bound,
the maps and tables folded. Initialled by Jefferson in each of the volumes of text. With the Library of Congress 1815 bookplates.
A copy is listed on Jefferson’s undated manuscript catalogue, with the price
87.10.
Jefferson several times expressed his opinion of this work, particularly the portions relative to the United States, in his
correspondence and in the
Notes on Virginia
.
In a letter to M. Van Hogendorp, dated from Paris, August 25, 1786, with regard to his contributions to the article États-Unis
in the
Éncyclopédie
, Jefferson wrote: “
. . . with respect to the article ‘Etats unis’ of the Encyclopedie now inclosed I am far from making myself responsible for
the whole of the article. the two first sections are taken chiefly from the Abbe Raynal & they are therefore wrong exactly
in the same proportion. the other sections are generally right . . .
”
In his
Notes on Professor Ebeling’s letter of July 30. 95
Jefferson wrote:
The article ‘Etats Unis de l’Amerique’ in the Dictionnaire de’Economie politique et diplomatique, de l’Encyclopedie Methodique.
this article occupies about 90. pages, is by De Meusnier, and his materials were worthy of confidence, except so far as they
were taken from the Abbe Raynal. against these effusions of an imagination in deliris it is presumed Professor Ebeling needs
not be put on his guard. the earlier editions of the Abbé Raynal’s work were equally bad as to both South & North America.
a gentleman however of perfect information as to South America, undertook to reform that part of the work, and his changes
& additions were for the most part adopted by the Abbé in his latter editions. but the North-American part remains in it’s
original state of worthlessness.
On December 4, 1818, Jefferson wrote to Robert Walsh, at the request of the latter, his reminiscences of Dr. Franklin, and
included this anecdote: “
. . . The Doctor & Silas Deane were in conversation one day at Passy on the numerous errors in the Abbe’s Histoire des deux
Indes, when he happened to step in. after the usual salutations, Silas Deane said to him ‘the Doctor and myself Abbé, were
just speaking of the errors of fact into which you have been led in your history.’ ‘Oh, no, Sir, said the Abbé, that is impossible.
I took the greatest care not to insert a single fact, for which I had not the most unquestionable authority.’ ‘why, says Deane,
there is the story of Polly Baker, and the eloquent apology you have put into her mouth, when brought before a court of Massachusets
to suffer banishment under a law, which you cite, for having had a bastard. I know there never was such a law in Massachusets.’
‘be assured said the Abbé, you are mistaken and that that is a true story. I do not immediately recollect indeed the particular
information on which I quote it, but I am certain that I had for it unquestionable authority.’ Doctor Franklin who had been
for some time shaking with restrained laughter at the Abbé’s confidence in his authority for that tale, said ‘I will tell
you, Abbé, the origin of that story. when I was a printer and editor of a newspaper, we were sometimes slack of news, and
to amuse our customers, I used to fill up our vacant columns with anecdotes, and fables, and fancies of my own, and this of
Polly Baker is a story of my making, on one of those occasions.’ the Abbé, without the least disconcert, exclaimed with a
laugh ‘Oh, very well, Doctor, I had rather relate your stories than other men’s truths.’
”
In the
Notes on Virginia Jefferson quotes a passage from the
Histoire Philosophique, and writes at length to disprove the Abbé’s contention that “
on doit etre etonné que l’Amérique n’ait pas encore produit un bon poete, un habile mathématicien, un homme de génie dans
un seul art, ou seul science.
”
Guillaume Thomas François Raynal, 1713-1796, French writer. In this his most important work, he had the assistance of Diderot, Pechméja, Holbach, Paulze and
others. It originally appeared anonymously in Amsterdam, 1770, and was frequently reprinted, revised, abridged, and translated.
In France its publication was forbidden, and it was burned by the public executioner. The first Geneva edition was in quarto,
earlier in the same year as this octavo edition.
Christoph Daniel Ebeling, 1741-1817, was professor of history and the Greek language at the Gymnasium of Hamburg, and in 1800 was appointed librarian of the city. He wrote a number of books, several of the more important of which relate to America. At the time of his correspondence with Jefferson he was in the midst of compiling his Erdbeschreibung und Geschichte von Nordamerika issued in 7 volumes from 1793 to 1816. Volume I, for New Hampshire and Massachusetts, was issued in 1793; Vol. II, for Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, and New York, in 1794; Vol. III, for New York and New Jersey, in 1796; Vol. IV, for Pennsylvania, in 1797; Vol. V, for Delaware and Maryland, in 1799; Vol. VI, for Pennsylvania (enlarged), in 1803; and Vol. VII, for Virginia, in 1816. The Virginia volume was dedicated to William Bentley, Sameul [sic--ED.] Latham Mitchill, and Henry St. George Tucker, qqv. Ebeling’s collection of books and maps was purchased in 1818 by Israel Thorndike and presented to Harvard University.
[466]
