On September 13/25, Levett Harris wrote again: “I have the pleasure of transmitting You herewith a copy of the last work of Count John Potocky of which he requests your acceptance
. . .”
The book was received in March 1811. On March 8 Dck. Barthe wrote from Philadelphia to Jefferson: “I Have the Honour of forwarding to You per Mail, a Package intrusted to my care at St. Petersburg by Mr. Levett Harris. I
had flattered myself with the prospect of getting here early in November last, but the Brig on board of which I was supercargo
having been detained by the British in coming out of the Sound and sent to London; my return home has been delayed considerably,
although vessel & cargo were restored without trial.”
To this Jefferson replied on March 17: “
Th: Jefferson acknowledges the reciept of a letter and volume from Count Potocki which m(r~) Barthe has been so kind as to
take charge of and forward to him; he returns him his thanks for this mark of attention and salutes him with respect & his
best wishes.
”
Jefferson acknowledged Potocki’s letter above on May 12, 1811: “
I have recieved your letter of Aug. 19. & with it the volume of Chronology you were so kind as to send me, for which be pleased
to accept my thanks. it presents a happy combination of sparse and unconnected facts, which brought together & fitted to each
other, forms a whole of symmetry, as well as of system. it is as a gleam of light flashed over the dark abyss of times past.
nothing would be more flattering to me than to give aid to your enquiries as to this continent . . . but time tells me I am
nearly done with the history of the world; that I am now far advanced in the last chapter of my own, & that it’s last verse
will be read out ere a few letters could pass between St. Petersburg and Monticello . . .
”
Count Potocki died in November 1815 and Jefferson eleven years later, on July 4, 1826.
[4]
J.5
Sanchoniathon’s Phaenician history by Cumberland.
8
vo.
1815 Catalogue, page 6. no. 57, as above, with reading
Phenician.
SANCHUNIATHON.
Sanchoniatho’s Phœnician History, Translated from the First Book of Eusebius De Præparatione Evangelica. With a Continuation of Sanchoniatho’s History by Eratosthenes Cyrenæus’s Canon, which Dicæarchus connects with the First Olympiad . . . By the R
t Rev
d R. Cumberland, D.D. late Bishop of Peterborough. With a Preface giving a Brief Account of the Life, Character, and Writings of the Author,
By S. Payne, A. M . . .
London: Printed by
W. B. [?Botham] for
R. Wilkin,
MDCCXX. [1720.]
DS81 .P5
First Edition.
8vo. 280 leaves, folded chronological table; publisher’s advertisement at the foot of the last page.
Rebound in half red morocco by the Library of Congress in 1901. Initialled by Jefferson at sigs. I and T. At the end the initials
s l are written in ink.
Listed in Jefferson’s undated manuscript catalogue, with the price:
11.2.
Sanchuniathon, an ancient Phœnician sage, whose mythological writings Philo Herennius of Byblus claimed to have translated from the Phœnician
originals.
Richard Cumberland, 1631-1718, bishop of Peterborough, the friend of Samuel Pepys, hoped to prove in this work that the heathen gods were mortal
men. Publication was interrupted by the Revolution, and postponed until 1720, when the book was posthumously published by
Squier Payne, Cumberland’s son-in-law, who added a life of the Bishop. On the last leaf is the advertisement
The other Part of this Work is ready for the Press, entituled, Origines Gentium Antiquissimæ . . .
[5]
