Thomas Jefferson Papers

To Thomas Jefferson from Nicolas Gouin Dufief, 22 October 1801

From Nicolas Gouin Dufief

22 d’octobre. 1801

Monsieur,

J’ai remis suivant vos desirs à Mr. Barnes les livres dont vous m’avez envoyé la note—Le Remembrancer n’est pas celui dont il est fait mention dans mon Catalogue; il étoit vendu lorsque je reçus l’honneur de la votre, d’ailleurs plusieurs des volumes avoient été endommagés ce que j’avois oublié de mentioner.

J’ai ajouté depuis peu à ma Collection la portion de la Bibliotheque du Dr B. Franklin leguée par lui à son petit fils Temple Franklin. Sans l’entousiasme de nos Concitoyens a faire l’acquisition de ses livres J’aurois accompli mon dessein de vous en envoyer le catalogue manscript; mais en ayant une fois annoncé la vente dans les papiers publics il ne m’a pas été possible de me me refuser a l’empressement général à se les procurer—Il s’est trouvé parmi ces livres la fameuse lettre de Trasibule à Leucippe en Manuscript. peut étre plus correcte & plus complète que les Editions imprimées ce dont je n’ai pu m’assurer n’en ayant aucune pour en faire la comparaison—J’ai pensé que vous me feriez l’honneur de l’accepter; cela m’a enhardi a mettre cet ouvrage parmi vos livres—

Les livres suivans sont les principaux ouvrages qui me restent de cette Bibliotheque

Dlrs
The Parliamentary history in 24 V. 8o. neatly bd in calf 30 "
Lords Protests from 1242=1767. 2 8 D 2 "
—    —      during the Amer. war. Do 1 "
the Journal of the house of Commons 15 V. folio (not complete) 40 "
Debates of          Do 22. 8 18 "

Je viens de recevoir de Londres un ouvrage curieux intitulé “Dictionnaire biographique & historique des hommes marquans de la fin du 18eme. siecle & plus particulierement de ceux qui ont figuré dans la Revolution francaise &ca” Je me propose de le garder quelque tems afin de le lire; ainsi s’il vous interesse il sera a votre disposition: prix six dollars les 3 V. 8vo.

Si vous desiriez faire l’acquisition de 2 beaux bustes de Voltaire & de Rousseau en marbre de Carare; J’en ai deux excellentes copies apportées de France par Mr. De Ternant, sculptés par Gèrrachy, d’après Pigal. J’ai fait faire deux colonnes à l’antique pour les supporter, elles font le plus bel effet du monde—Mr Barne a qui je les ai montrées pourra vous en donner une idée—le prix qui est de deux cents Gourdes est fort au dessous de ce qu’elles valent

J’ai l’honneur d’etre avec les sontimens les plus respectueux—& l’estime la plus profonde Votre très devoué serviteur

N. G. Dufief

Editors’ translation

22 October 1801

Sir,

Following your desires, I have turned over to Mr. Barnes the books in the note you sent to me. The Remembrancer is not the one mentioned in my catalogue; it was sold at the time I had the honor of receiving your letter, moreover, several of the volumes had been damaged, which I had forgotten to mention.

Recently, I have added to my collection the portion of Dr. B. Franklin’s library left by him to his grandson, Temple Franklin. Were it not for the enthusiasm of our fellow citizens to acquire some of his books, I would have fulfilled my plan of sending to you its manuscript catalogue; but, once having announced the sale in the public papers, it was not possible for me to deny the general eagerness to acquire them. Among those books there was the famous Letter from Thrasybulus to Leucippus in manuscript, perhaps more correct and more complete than the printed editions, which I was not able to ascertain, not having any to compare it with. I thought that you would do me the honor of accepting it; that emboldened me to place that work among your books.

The following books are the main works that I have left from that library:

Dlrs
The Parliamentary history in 24 V. 8o. neatly bd in calf 30 "
Lords Protests from 1242=1767. 2 8 D 2 "
—    —      during the Amer. war. Do 1 "
the Journal of the house of Commons 15 V. folio (not complete) 40 "
Debates of          Do 22. 8 18 "

I have just received from London a curious work entitled “Biographical and historical Dictionary of the outstanding men of the end of the 18th century, and most especially of those who figured in the French Revolution, etc.” I propose to keep it for some time in order to read it; thus, if it interests you, it will be at your disposal: price, six dollars for the three volumes in octavo.

If you should desire to acquire two fine busts of Voltaire and Rousseau in Carrara marble, I have two excellent copies brought from France by Mr. de Ternant, sculpted by Gèrrachy, after Pigalle. I had two antique-style columns made for pedestals, which make the finest effect in the world. Mr. Barnes, to whom I showed them, can give you an idea of them. The price of two hundred gourdes is far below what they are worth.

I have the honor to be, with the most respectful sentiments, and the deepest esteem, your very devoted servant

N. G. Dufief

RC (DLC; at head of text: “Thomas Jefferson. Esqre”; endorsed by TJ as received 26 Oct. and so recorded in SJL, but as a letter of 23 Oct.).

The note may have been a communication from TJ to Dufief of 18 Aug., which is recorded in SJL but has not been found. The remembrancer that Dufief sent was apparently The Remembrancer, or Impartial Repository of Public Events, compiled by John Almon and published in London in installments from 1775 to the end of the American Revolution (Sowerby description begins E. Millicent Sowerby, comp., Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, Washington, D.C., 1952–59, 5 vols. description ends , No. 3070).

In September and October 1801, Dufief advertised for sale “a considerable part of the select and valuable Library of the celebrated Philosopher and Statesman,” Benjamin Franklin. The offering attracted only a modest response, although the American Philosophical Society did buy several dozen volumes. In 1803, Dufief mounted a new effort to sell books from Franklin’s collection, again with less success than he hoped (Philadelphia Gazette, 15 Sep. 1801; Madeleine B. Stern, Nicholas Gouin Dufief of Philadelphia: Franco-American Bookseller, 1776–1834 [Philadelphia, 1988], 23–32; APS description begins American Philosophical Society description ends , Proceedings, 22, pt. 3 [1884], 314–17).

La Fameuse Lettre De Trasibule à Leucippe: the 155-leaf manuscript that Dufief gave TJ from Franklin’s library was Nicolas Freret, “Lettre de Trasibule à Leucippe. Ouvrage critique, historique, metaphisique &c. Ou l’on nie la verité de toutes les Religions.—l’existence de Dieu, et l’immortalité de l’ame” (“a critical, historical, metaphysical, etc., work, in which is denied the truth of all religions, the existence of God, and the immortality of the soul”). Freret lived from 1688 to 1749. His authorship of the manuscript has been disputed (see Sowerby description begins E. Millicent Sowerby, comp., Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, Washington, D.C., 1952–59, 5 vols. description ends , No. 1291).

The parliamentary history from Franklin’s library was The Parliamentary or Constitutional History of England; From the Earliest Times, to the Restoration of King Charles II. Collected … by Several Hands, 2d ed., 24 vols. (London, 1761–63; Sowerby description begins E. Millicent Sowerby, comp., Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, Washington, D.C., 1952–59, 5 vols. description ends , No. 2925). The books pertaining to the House of Lords were A Complete Collection of the Lords’ Protests from the First upon Record, in the Reign of Henry the Third, to the Present Time, 2 vols. (London, 1767), and A Complete Collection of All the Protests of the Peers in Parliament Entered on their Journals, Since the Year 1774, on the Great Questions of the Cause and Issue of the War between Great-Britain and America, &c to the Present Time (London, 1782).

Dictionnaire Biographique: the Dictionnaire biographique et historique des hommes marquans de la fin du dix-huitième siècle, et plus particulièrement de ceux qui ont figuré dans la Révolution Françoise, 3 vols., 1800, with a London imprint but probably published in Hamburg. TJ described his copy as two books bound as a single volume. The work, credited in the publication itself as the product of a society of men of letters, has been attributed to Baron Coiffier de Verseux (Sowerby description begins E. Millicent Sowerby, comp., Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, Washington, D.C., 1952–59, 5 vols. description ends , No. 148).

The sculptor whom Dufief called Gèrrachy may have been Giuseppe Ceracchi, who was executed in France in January 1801. Busts of Voltaire and Rousseau are not attributed to him, although the pieces mentioned by Dufief may not be well documented if they were copies of another artist’s work. Jean Baptiste Pigalle made a famous statue of Voltaire and also a bust of him, but evidence is lacking of any Pigalle bust of Rousseau. One artist who did create notable busts of both Voltaire and Rousseau was Jean Antoine Houdon (Samuel Rocheblave, Jean-Baptiste Pigalle [Paris, 1919], 381–6; Dena Goodman, “Pigalle’s Voltaire nu: The Republic of Letters Represents Itself to the World,” Representations, 16 [1986], 86–109; Louis Réau, Houdon: Sa Vie et son Œuvre, 4 pts. in 2 vols. [Paris, 1964], 3:41, 44–5; Vol. 32:62n).

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