Jefferson, Thomas, Third President

Autograph letter signed ("Th: Jefferson"), 1 page (8 3/4 x 7 3/8 in.; 223 x 186 mm) on laid paper, Monticello, 24 February 1795, to David Rittenhouse; lightly browned, some short separations and tiny losses at intersecting folds, tipped to a mat board.

The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Catanzariti, 28:279

Autograph letter signed ("Th: Jefferson"), 1 page (8 3/4 x 7 3/8 in.; 223 x 186 mm) on laid paper, Monticello, 24 February 1795, to David Rittenhouse; lightly browned, some short separations and tiny losses at intersecting folds, tipped to a mat board.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

"I read little & ride much, and I regret greatly the time I have suffered myself to waste from home." Apart from the Declaration of Independence, perhaps no writing of Thomas Jefferson's has been so frequently quoted as his assertion, in an 1815 letter to John Adams, "I cannot live without books." But the present letter reveals that Jefferson did not live by books alone.

Even during a temporary retirement from public service, Thomas Jefferson remained intimately involved with government affairs. In the present letter he entrusts to Rittenhouse communications to President George Washington and Secretary of State Edmund Randolph, to be forwarded directly by Rittenhouse or, if possible, through the offices of James Madison, then a Virginia representative to congress. "The inclosed letter to mr Madison covers two to the President & secretary of state, which were left open to be perused & then delivered by him. but as he may have left Philadelphia before they get there, & it is important they should be delivered without delay, I take the liberty of putting the whole under cover to you, and open for your perusal as the subject will interest you. if mr Madison be not gone be so good as to stick a wafer in his cover & have it delivered. if he be gone, throw his cover into the fire, stick wafers into the letters to the President & Secretary of state, and when dry have them delivered. you will perceive that the subject of the letter has been desired to be kept secret as much as it's nature will permit."

Jefferson's letters to Washington and Randolph discuss his scheme of employing the offices of Sir Francis D'Ivernois to transfer the University of Geneva to the United States. The failure of this project was undoubtedly instrumental in Jefferson's decision to establish the University of Virginia. Jefferson evidently presumed that Rittenhouse would be interested in this subject because, as he wrote to Washington, "The colleges of Geneva and Edinburgh were considered as the two eyes of Europe in matters of science. ... Edinburgh has been the most famous in medecine ...; but Geneva most so in the other branches of Science." 

At the time of this correspondence, Jefferson was enjoying his first extended residence at Monticello in more than a decade, having served in diplomatic posts in Paris and London and as Secretary of State in New York City and Philadelphia. His letter to Rittenhouse continues in a more personal vein, deprecating the value of his governmental accomplishments and extolling the virtues of agrarian life:

"I am here immersed in the concerns of a farmer, and more interested & engrossed by them, than I had ever conceived possible. they in a great degree render me indifferent to my books, so that I read little & ride much, and I regret greatly the time I have suffered myself to waste from home. to this indeed is added another kind of regret for the loss of society with the worthy characters with which I became acquainted in the course of my wanderings from home. if I had but Fortune's wishing cap to seat myself sometimes by your fireside, and to pay a visit to Dr. [Joseph] Priestly, I would be contented. his writings evince that he must be a fund of instruction in conversation, and his character an object of attachment & veneration. be so good as to present my best respects to mrs Rittenhouse, & to accept yourself assurances of the high esteem of  Dear Sir your sincere friend. ..."

Jefferson was shortly to return to Philadelphia as Vice President to John Adams, but Fortune did not permit him to sit with Rittenhouse at fireside: the scientist died in June 1796. Jefferson was elected to succeed Rittenhouse as President of the American Philosophical Society, and in his letter of acceptance, 28 January 1797, he eulogized "our beloved Rittenhouse. Genius, science, modesty, purity of morals, simplicity of manners, marked him as one of nature's best samples of the perfection she can cover under the human form" (Papers of Thomas Jefferson 29:276).