in that Colony . . . By William Smith, A.M.
London: Printed for
J. Almon.
MDCCLXXVI. [1776.]
F122 .S65
Second Edition. 8vo. 184 leaves.
Contemporary sprinkled calf, plain end papers. Initialled by Jefferson at sigs. I and T. With the Library of Congress 1815
bookplate.
Jefferson acquired his copy after February 20, 1784, on which day he wrote to James Madison from Annapolis, that “
by the time my order got to Philadelphia every copy of Smith’s history of New York was sold.”
The book is entered on Jefferson’s undated manuscript catalogue, with the price,
9/-.
Jefferson had previously written to James Madison from Annapolis on December 11, 1783: . . . I see Bradford advertizes Smith's history of N. York. as I mean to write for one myself, and think I heard you say you had it not, I shall add one for you . . .
(Original in the madison Papers, Library of Congress.)
William Smith, 1728-1793, jurist, historian and Loyalist, was a native of New York. He was Chief Justice of New York in 1779, but later
went to England for political reasons. In 1785 he returned to the American continent as Chief Justice of Canada. This is the
first octavo edition of his
History of the Province of New York, which had originally appeared in quarto in 1757. The work is a valuable source book for the political history of the eighteenth
century. A French translation was published in 1767. The first American edition was published by Mathew Carey in Philadelphia,
1792.
[502]
J.59
Histoire de la Virginie.
[par Beverley
]
12
mo.
1815 Catalogue, page 24. no. 3, as above.
[BEVERLEY,
Robert.]
Histoire de la Virginie, contenant I. L’Histoire du premier Etablissement dans la Virginie, & de son Gouvernement jusques
à présent. II. Les productions naturelles . . . III. La Relision, les Loix, & les Coutumes des Indiens Naturels . . . IV.
L’Etat present du Païs . . . Par un Auteur natif & habitant du Païs. Traduite de l’
Anglois. Enrichie de Figures.
A
Amsterdam: chez
Thomas Lombrail.
M DCC VII. [1707.]
F229 .B602
12mo. 228 leaves; a folded leaf between S
12 and T
1 marked
Pag. 433; 14 engraved and numbered full-page plates by Gribelin after De Bry, the first leaf with the engraved arms of Virginia, title printed in red and black, woodcut device.
Sabin 5116 (chez Thomas Lombreuil).
Virginia State Library,
Bibliography of Virginia, 383.
Clayton-Torrence 96.
Pilling,
Algonquian Languages, 43.
Old calf, marbled end papers, gilt back, r.e. (repaired). Initialled by Jefferson at sigs. I and T. With the Library of Congress
1815 bookplate.
The original edition in English (London 1705) is listed by Jefferson in his manuscript catalogue, next before the entry for the
French translation, and was one of the books reported by Jefferson to be missing in his letter to Milligan, March 28, 1815, immediately after the sale, and which Milligan was asked to try and get and bring with him.
No copy was ever supplied to Congress.
Both the English and French editions are entered on Jefferson’s undated catalogue, without price.
In his
Notes on Virginia
Jefferson contrasts the work of Beverley with that of Stith:
Beverley, a native also, has run into the other extreme; he has comprised our history, from the first propositions of Sr.
Walter Raleigh to the year 1700, in the hundredth part of the space which Stith employs for the fourth part of the period
. . .
Robert Beverley, 1673-1722. His history was originally undertaken for the purpose of correcting the work of Oldmixon (q.v., no. 470) which Beverley had seen in manuscript whilst on a visit to England in 1703. Two editions in French were published in 1707,
in Amsterdam and Orléans respectively.
[503]
