Jared Sparks to Thomas Jefferson, 18 September 1820
From Jared Sparks
Baltimore, Sept. 18. 1820.
Sir,
I hope you will pardon the liberty I take in sending you a work, which I have lately published, and which accompanies this note. I know not whether the sentiments advanced in it agree in any respect with yours; but should you have leisure & inclination to look it over, I trust you will not be displeased with its manner & spirit. You will at least be ready to countenance any fair and liberal discussions of topics, which have a bearing on the interests of society, and which have long engaged the attention of wise and good men.
I was sorry not to find, in the library of Congress, Ledyard’s Book, which you were so kind as to mention to me. The librarian thought it could never have been there. I may find it perhaps in Connecticut among some of the family. I have taken pains to procure from England materials for a life of Ledyard. I shall spare no exertions to obtain the letters, which he wrote to you. Should any thing occur to your mind, which may give interest to the subject, in addition to what is contained in those letters, & in your1 Life of Lewis, you will confer a particular favour by making me acquainted with it.
Jared Sparks.
RC (DLC); between dateline and salutation: “Thomas Jefferson, Montecello”; endorsed by TJ as received 31 Oct. 1820 and so recorded in SJL. FC (Lb in MH: Sparks Collection); with parenthetical note at foot of text identifying the enclosure and stating that “I lately saw Mr. Jefferson at Monticello, where I talked with him about Ledyard.” Enclosure: Sparks, Letters on the Ministry, Ritual, and Doctrines of the Protestant Episcopal Church, addressed to the Rev. Wm. E. Wyatt, D.D. (Baltimore, 1820; , 9 [no. 530]).
The librarian of Congress, George Watterston, mistakenly suggested that John Ledyard, A Journal of Captain Cook’s last Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, and in quest of a North-West Passage, between Asia & America (Hartford, 1783; no. 3940), could never have been in the collection. It was in fact among the books TJ sold to the nation in 1815 (Catalogue of the Library of the United States. To Which is Annexed, A Copious Index, Alphabetically Arranged [Washington, 1815], 120). For the life of lewis, see TJ to Paul Allen, 18 Aug. 1813.
1. RC: “you.” FC: “your.”
Index Entries
- A Journal of Captain Cook’s last Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, and in quest of a North-West Passage, between Asia & America (J. Ledyard [1751–89]) search
- books; biographical search
- Jefferson, Thomas; Books & Library; works sent to search
- Jefferson, Thomas; Writings; Biography of Meriwether Lewis search
- Ledyard, John (1751–89); A Journal of Captain Cook’s last Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, and in quest of a North-West Passage, between Asia & America search
- Ledyard, John (1751–89); biography of search
- Letters on the Ministry, Ritual, and Doctrines of the Protestant Episcopal Church, addressed to the Rev. Wm. E. Wyatt, D.D. (J. Sparks) search
- Lewis, Meriwether; TJ’s biography of search
- Library of Congress; works owned by search
- Monticello (TJ’s Albemarle Co. estate); Visitors to; Sparks, Jared search
- religion; works on search
- Sparks, Jared; and J. Ledyard (1751–89) search
- Sparks, Jared; letters from search
- Sparks, Jared; Letters on the Ministry, Ritual, and Doctrines of the Protestant Episcopal Church, addressed to the Rev. Wm. E. Wyatt, D.D. search
- Sparks, Jared; visits Monticello search
- Watterston, George; as librarian of Congress search