“
A printer here has begun to print the most remarkable of the English authors, as that can be done here much cheaper than in
England or even Ireland. he supposes America could take off a considerable number of copies, & has therefore applied to me
to find a sure correspondent for him. being unacquainted with the printers of Philadelphia & the booksellers, yet satisfied
that that would be the best place for him to have a correspondent, I must ask of you to recommend one and to hand to him the
inclosed proposals, & the piece of a volume which we send as a specimen. an Octavo volume will cost here 96 sous, which are
exactly 4/- sterling, bound & with the abatement of 10 percent about 2/8 sterl. the same in London would cost 7/. above all
things let the correspondent be solid in his circumstances. if young m
(
~r)
Beach has begun to exercise his destined calling of a printer, he could be the best correspondent for Pissot for many reasons;
one is that Pissot is personally known to him, having been the bookseller of D
r. Franklin . . .
”
This letter interested Franklin in the matter, and he wrote to Jefferson from Philadelphia on October 24, 1788: “M
r. Hopkinson has communicated to me a Letter of yours with a Proposal of M
r. Pissot’s respecting his Editions of English Books. I am much oblig’d by your thinking of my Grandson on this Occasion; And
if M
r. Pissot will send over a Dozen of each Work as a Trial, I will take Care that the Terms propos’d shall be punctually comply’d
with . . .”
Gibbon’s
Decline and Fall is included in almost all Jefferson’s recommended reading lists.
Edward Gibbon, 1737-1794, English historian. This history was originally issued in quarto from 1776 to 1778, which edition is one of the
“Grolier Hundred”.
Francis Hopkinson, 1737-1791, statesman, musician, and author, was the son of Thomas Hopkinson, who emigrated from London to Philadelphia in 1731, and was one of the founders of the American Philosophical Society, the Library Company, and the College of Philadelphia. Jefferson was in frequent correspondence with Hopkinson; see the Index.
[101]
J.102
Histoire du bas empire par le Beau.
24 v.
12
mo.
1815 Catalogue, page 5. no. 42, as above.
LE BEAU,
Charles.
Histoire du Bas-Empire, en commençant à Constantin Le Grand. Par Monsieur Le Beau . . . Tome Premier [-Vingt-Quatrieme]. A
Paris: chez
Desaint & Saillant,
M.DCC.LVII. [-M.DCC.LXXXVI.] [1757-1786.]
DF551 .L43 Copy 2
First Edition. 24 vol. (only) 12mo., half-titles in vol. XI-XVIII inclusive,
Fautes à corriger in each volume. The imprints vary from time to time, and from vol. XV, 1773,
Desaint’s name is replaced by
Veuve Desaint.
Brunet III, page 899.
Quérard V, page 8.
French mottled calf, gilt backs, marbled end papers, m.e. Initialled by Jefferson throughout at sigs. I and T. Jefferson may
have bought the book in 1786 whilst he was in France, and during the course of its publication. The complete work with 2 volumes
of tables should have 29 volumes. The author died in 1778 whilst vol. XXII was in the press, and the work was completed in
1811 by Ameilhon; the two volumes of
Tables Alphabétiques were added in 1817 by Ravier. With the Library of Congress 1815 bookplate.
Charles Le Beau, 1701-1778, French historian.
[102]
J.103
Aelianus Perizonii.
2. v.
8
vo.
1815 Catalogue, page 3. no. 94, as above.
AELIANUS,
Claudius.
Κλ. Αιλιανου σοφιστου ποικιλη ιστορια, Cl. Aeliani Sophistae Varia Historia, ad MStos Codices nunc primum recognita & castigata, cum Versione Justi Vulteji, sed innumeris in
locis ad Graecum Auctoris contextum emendata, et perpetuo commentario Jacobi Perizonii. Accedunt indices, & plures, & superioribus longe locupletiores. [-Pars Altera.]
Lugduni in Batavis: apud
Johannem du Vivie,
Isaacum Severinum,
1701.--
Perizonius, Jacobus. Jac. Perizonii Dissertatio
