About this Item
First British edition. London: Printed for John Stockdale, 1787. Octavo (8 ¾" x 5 ½", 223mm x 140mm). With an engraved folding map "Country between Albemarle Sound, and Lake Erie, comprehending the whole of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania, with parts of several other of the United States of America" by S. J. Neele hand-colored in outline (framed separately, discreet repairs to folds, right margin and lower left corner). Bound in the publisher's blue boards, drab paper spine (rebacked). Rebacked to style, upper fore-corner of rear board renewed. The folding letterpress table and title-page have been repaired along the bottom margin. Small mechanical stamp to lower margin of advertisement leaf, moderate foxing throughout, Aa8 roughly opened. With the deckle at the fore- and lower edges preserved. On the front paste-down, the leather ex-libris of Michael Sharpe. Presented in a half-calf clamshell box. Written as a response to the enquiries of France's ambassador to America, François Barbé Marbois, Jefferson's Notes was not initially intended for publication. It proved, however, to be so comprehensive in its accounting and analysis of Virginia, and so distinctly American what we might now call "Jeffersonian" in its tone that Jefferson decided to have it printed for public circulation rather than merely for his private circle. Jefferson's boundless curiosity is here on most dazzling display: topography, climate, boundaries, population, colleges, government, commerce, agriculture etc. all have their sections. The tables even include a chart of the "Birds of Virginia," indicating "Catesby's designations" as well as popular names. Elements of Jefferson's political and literary eloquence permeate the book, which he wrote primarily while he was U.S. minister to France. Jefferson's "Map of the Country between Albemarle Sound and Lake Erie " is the only map that the statesman ever drafted, and one of supreme importance. This map has considerable historical value, serving as primary documentary evidence of the westward movement in Virginia which is recorded cartographically on very few maps. The period between 1750 and 1800 was one of extensive and accelerated migration, which Jefferson's map captures at the mid-point between the map that his father, Peter Jefferson, made with Joshua Fry in 1750, and James Madison's map of 1807. Jefferson's familiarity with the heavily populated area of the state resulted in the location of towns and county seats with greater precision than had been achieved previously. Many natural monuments were marked for the first time on a map, including Zane's and Madison's Caves, the Indian Grave, and the Natural Bridge. This pivotal map, furthermore, served as a forum in which Jefferson could not only record with precision the geography of the state, but also make a political statement regarding the proper western boundary of Virginia and the future division of the western lands into five new states. Three of these he labeled simply as "A New State," but two others were named specifically: "Kentuckey" because it was already one of the western counties of Virginia and known by that name, and "Frankland for the area that is now Tennessee". In this way Jefferson's map reflects not just the conventional cartographer's task of mapping the land and its boundaries as they stand, but the excitement of delineating the land as it was envisioned to become. Clark 1:262; Howes J 78; Sabin 35896. Seller Inventory # 6JLR0015
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