“
1529. Tacitus’s works by Gordon 5.v. 8
vo. 14f6. but if you cannot find the precise Latin edition above indicated, do not send the English one.
”
Stockdale replied on July 10: “Tacittus’s Works in Latin is not be got in 8vo.”
On August 3, Stockdale had found a copy of Gordon’s book and wrote: “. . . I should have sent the Articles off sooner had it not been for the difficulty I had to meet with Gordon’s Tacitus, it
being entirely out of print; it is bound, but I hope it will answer your purpose, the price is £1.4.”
A copy of the Elzevir edition was offered to Jefferson on May 26, 1788, by Koenig of Strassburg, and was one of those sent to Paris, chez M. Prevost, libraire, and
put “
de coté” for Jefferson.
The Elzevir and Gordon editions are entered together on Jefferson’s undated manuscript catalogue as on the dated, with the complete price:
75 (livres).
Jefferson’s opinion of Tacitus was expressed in a letter to Mrs. Anne Carey
[
sic
] Bankhead, written from Washington, December 8, 1800: “
. . . Tacitus I consider as the first writer in the world without a single exception. his book is a compound of history &
morality of which we have no other example
”
Of Gordon’s translation he wrote on May 1, 1813, to Charles Clay, to whose son, Cyrus, he had sent a copy of Tacitus (bought
from Dufief on Jan. 4, 1813 for $8.00): “
. . . the solidity of his [i.e. Tacitus]
matter, his brevity, & his fondness for point & antithesis make him difficult. I would advise the use of a translation to
be read after the original . . . Murphy’s is preferred by those who cannot read the original, and who do not therefore know
the spirit of the author. But those who do find much more of that spirit in Gordon’s. his selection of Tacitus & Sallust for
translation seems to have been dictated by the similar causticity of his own genius . . .
”
Cornelius Tacitus, c. 55-120, Roman historian.
Thomas Gordon, d. 1750, Scottish miscellaneous writer. The first edition of his translation of Tacitus was published in 1728, in 2 vol.
folio.
Anne Cary Bankhead (whose middle name should be so spelled) was Jefferson’s granddaughter, the daughter of Martha and Thomas Mann Randolph, and wife of Charles L. Bankhead.
Charles Clay was a close friend of Jefferson, and a neighbor at his Poplar Forest estate.
[80]
J.81
Tacitus Brotier.
}
Tacito por Sveyro.
}
12. v.
small 8
vo.
Tacitus by Gordon.
}
1815 Catalogue, page 7. no. 32, Tacitus, edition of Brotier, with Span. por Sveyro, and Eng. by Gordon, 12 v, p 8vo.
TACITUS,
Cornelius.
C. Cornelii Taciti Opera supplementis, notis et dissertationibus illustravit Gabriel Brotier . . . Parisiis: ex typographia
L. F. Delatour,
1776.--
Las Obras de C. Cornelio Tacito. Traducidas de
Latin en Castellano por Emanvel Sveyro, natural de la ciudad de Anuers
. . . En
Anvers: en casa de
Pedro y Iuan Bellero,
1619.--
The Works of Tacitus. With Political Discourses upon that Author. By Thomas Gordon, Esq. The
Fifth Edition Corrected.
Dublin: for
J. Williams [and others],
1778.
PA6705 .A2 1776
12mo. and 8vo. The three editions conflated by Jefferson, cut to size and bound for him, probably by March, in 12 vol. calf,
gilt backs (vol. I, tooled to a different design) marbled end papers. Initialled by Jefferson at sig. I and T wherever they
occur. With the Library of Congress 1815 bookplate (in vol. 9 placed inside the back cover, the 1822 plate being in the front
cover); on the
Spanish title the initials e h are written in ink.
The Brotier edition was purchased by Jefferson from
Goldsmith in Paris through
William Short in 1790. In an undated letter, written in that year, Jefferson sent Short a list of his requirements, including: “
. . . Tacittus de l’Abbé Brotier (or some such name) in 6. or 7. vols 12
mo.
Frouillé sent it to me
”
