Jefferson was introduced to this work by Benjamin Vaughan, who in a letter dated from London April 5[,] 1788, wrote: “. . . With the above hygrometers, I take the liberty to send D ^r. Crawford’s book on Animal heat & Combustion & seven numbers of a new work to which you are, unknown to yourself, a contributor . . .”

On the 18th of the following month, in ordering a number of books from Stockdale, Jefferson included: “ The Repository. printed by Justins. after N ^o. 7. & continue to send me this as it appears. ”

On July 16, Jefferson wrote to Stockdale: “ . . . charge me also to the end of my year’s subscription for the Monthly & Critical reviews, and the Repository, & so long be so good as to continue to send them to me, & no longer . . . ”

A letter written to Stockdale the following day, July 17, repeated the request: “ . . . my letter of yesterday will also explain to you my desire as to the Reviews & Repository. I put this letter under cover to m ( ^~ r) Trumbull who will be so good as to pay you the balance of £13-12. should I have mistaken the price of the Reviews & Repository yet to come, or that of the octavo edition of Phil. III. which was the one you sent me, he will be so good as to accede to your correction of those articles . . . ”

Stockdale sent the bill on August 15: “ Repository July to Dec ^r. 88. 6 ” [shillings].

Meanwhile on July 23, Jefferson had written to Benjamin Vaughan: “ . . . accept my thanks . . . for the 7. N ^os. of the Repository, which I like so well that I am become a subscriber for it . . . ”

Jefferson’s “contribution” referred to by Benjamin Vaughan, occurs in Volume I, page 336: Extract of a Letter from his Excellency Thomas Jefferson, Minister Plenipotentiary at Paris, to the Reverend President Stiles, of Yale-college, dated Paris, September 1, 1786.

An autograph letterpress copy of this letter is in the Jefferson papers in the Library of Congress. It relates to progress in several fields, exploration of the western country, scientific discoveries and so forth.

The Repository was issued bi-monthly from January 1 to April 16, 1788, and monthly from May 1788 to January 1789. Publication was suspended from September to December 1788[.] The publication contains a number of articles of United States interest, including numerous extracts from the works of Benjamin Franklin.

It is entered by Jefferson in his undated manuscript catalogue.

In 1787 Jefferson was subscribing to this work from Paris through Francis Hopkinson of Philadelphia. At least one of the earlier numbers was sent to him by David Rittenhouse, who on November 8, 1787, wrote to Jefferson from Philadelphia: “. . . I think I promised to send you my Observations on the Western Country. Not being able to extend my enquiries near so far as I wished I did not think them worth a place in the Volume of Transactions; but that they might not be intirely lost I permitted them to be printed in the Columbian Magazine which I have enclosed ”