 | |  |
C. Rare Books and Pamphlets
The fact that only a fraction of the library which went to Congress in 1814 survives makes it impossible to assess at all precisely the rare-book value of Jefferson's greatest library. But the items which do remain, added to others which may be identified, indicate that the Americana or Virginiana collector today would place a high valuation upon it. First perhaps one should take a glance at association and dedication copies.
There were hundreds of presentation copies in the library without Virginia or even American relationship. Miss Sowerby's Index lists all of the presentation copies together (V, 385-391). Among those of Virginia origin in some sense are Mason L. Weems' Washington (1808) and The True Patriot (1802), medical essays by Edmund Jennings, William Stokes, William Tazewell, and the two Ewells (see below), Thomas Northmore's Washington (1809), Colvin's Historical Letters (1812) and his Letter to the Honorable John Randolph (n.d.), and Birch's The Virginian Orator. Miss Sowerby also lists all the dedication copies (V, 329). Dedicated to Jefferson, though of course his copy does not always survive, are, among others, Burk's History of Virginia, James Ewell's Medical Companion (1807), Thomas Ewell's Plain Discourses (1806), Lomax's Notes of an American Lyre, Joshua Peel's Truth and Reason, and Stokes' De Asphyxia (1793). The list of books in which Jefferson is mentioned (Sowerby, V, 329-331) runs into the hundreds.
Already pointed out in connection with their listing under author, subject, or imprint above were a number of interesting association copies. Other association copies, with manuscript additions of value, are Sir John Randolph's common-place book bound with A Brief Method of Law (1680), Jefferson's own Summary View (1774) with
Other items now or once present are scarce editions or apparently unique copies (as far as present location is concerned). No copy is known to exist of the 1793 edition of John Randolph's Treatise on Gardening which Jefferson once owned, and the only copy Miss Sowerby was able to locate of the Dickinson-Lee The Farmer's and Monitor's Letters is Jefferson's. Rare Virginia pamphlets, many of them unincluded in most Virginia bibliographies, are Peel's Truth and Reason (1805) and Sherlock's A Practical Discourse Concerning Death (1744). Hakluyt's Principal Navigations (1589), Johnson's Nova Britannia (1609), and Bullock's Virginia Impartially Examined are first editions of considerable value. Williams' Virginia (1650) and DeBry's Voyages (1590-1619), the latter not quite complete, are also rare. The first editions Jefferson owned of the histories of Virginia by Smith (1632, first issue), Keith (1738), Stith (1747), and Burk (1804, 1805) bring high prices today. And the first editions of Marshall's Washington (1804, 1805, 1807), Jefferson's own Notes on the State of Virginia (Paris, 1785), and Lewis and Clark's History of the Expedition. . . . (1814) are prized items. There are scores of others.
As noted above, Jefferson was well aware that his most valuable printed items were his copies of the Virginia laws and legislative journals. He knew that he had the most nearly complete collection of them in existence. They were equally useful to lawyer, historian, and statesman.
| | |