Thomas Jefferson

Estimate

5,000 - 7,000 USD

bidding is closed

Description

Thomas Jefferson
Notes on the State of Virginia. Philadelphia: Prichard and Hall: 1788.
Paper, Ink

8vo (7 ¾ x 4 ¾ in). 244 pp. Woodcut engraving of “Madison’s Cave,” folding chart of Indian tribes; lower corner of one leaf torn away as is upper corner of chart (text not affected). Contemporary American tree calf, spine in 6 gilt-ruled compartments with gilt-lettered label; minor rubbing, some restoration at tail. Housed in a blue half morocco slipcase.

Provenance

Edward Shippen IV (1729-1806), signed on title page. Prominent Philadelphia lawyer, later Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chief Justice, father of Peggy Shippen (who married Benedict Arnold) — his grandson Edward Shippen Burd (1779-1848), also a prominent and wealthy lawyer (signed on advertisements page) — Burd School Library (bookplate).

Literature

Evans 21176; Howes J-78; Sabin 35897

Catalogue Note

FIRST AMERICAN EDITION with distinguished provenance of Edward Shippen IV (1729-1806), including the important appendices added after the first edition was printed in Paris in 1786: an “ACT FOR ESTABLISHING RELIGIOUS FREEDOM,” “Draught of a Fundamental Constitution for the Commonwealth of Virginia;” and Charles Thomson’s supplemental information on Indian tribes. The only book-length work published by Jefferson in his lifetime

Jefferson drafted his “Act for Establishing Religious Freedom” in 1777, but it took until 1786 (when Jefferson was in France) for it to be passed into law by the Virginia Assembly. One of his proudest accomplishments, Jefferson had inscribed on his tombstone: “Here was buried Thomas Jefferson / Author of the Declaration of American Independence / of the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom / & Father of the University of Virginia.”