Thomas Jefferson Papers
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Thomas Jefferson to Wells & Lilly, 1 April 1818

To Wells & Lilly

Monticello Apr. 1. 18.

Messrs Wells and Lilly

You must have thought me very tardy in acknoleging the reciept of your letter of Jan. 13. and in returning my thanks which I now do for the very handsome copy of Cicero’s works from your press, which you have been so kind as to present me. I waited first the reciept of that & the books accompanying it, but I happened at the time of their arrival to be reading the 5th book of Cicero’s Tusculans, which I followed by that of his Offices, and concluded to lay aside the Variorum edition, and to use yours, after which I might write more understandingly on the subject. having been extrem[e]ly disgusted with the Philadelphia and New York Delphin editions, some of which I had read, & altho executed with a good type on good paper, yet so full of errors of the press as not to be worth the paper they were printed on, I wished to see the state of the classical press with you. their editions had on an average about one error for every page. I read therefore the portions of your’s above mentioned with a pretty sharp eye, and in something upwards of 200. pages I found the errors noted on the paper inclosed, bei[n]g an average of one for every 13. pages. this is a good advance on the presses of N.Y. & Philada, and gives hopes of rapid improvement. the errors in the Variorum editions however are fewer than these, the Elzevirs still fewer: but the perfection of accuracy is to be found in the folio edn of Homer by the Foulis of Glasgow. I have understood they offered 1000– Guineas for the discovery of any error in it, even of an accent, & that the reward was never claimed. I am glad to find you are thinking of printing Livy. there should be no hesitation between that & Quinctilian. this last is little wanting. we have Blair’s & Adams’s books which give us the rhetoric of our own language and that of a foreign & a dead one will interest few readers. but of Livy there is not, nor ever has been an edition meriting the name of an editio optima. the Delphin edition might have been, but for it’s numerous errors of the press, and unmanageable1 size in 4to. it’s notes are valuable, and it has the whole of Freinsheim’s supplement with the marginal references to his authorities. Clerk’s edition is of a handy size, has the whole of Freinsheim, but without the references, which we often wish to turn to, and it is without notes. the late Paris edition of La Malle has only the supplement of the 2d decad and no notes.2 I possess these two last mentioned editions, but would gladly become a subscriber to such a one as I describe, that is to say, an 8vo edn with the Delphin notes and all Freinsheim’s supplements & references. if correctly executed it would be the editio optima, be called for in Europe & do us honor there. since consigning my library to Congress I have supplied myself from Europe with most of the Classics, & of the best editions, in which I have been much aided by mr Ticknor your most learned & valuable countryman.

I make you my acknolegements for the sermon on the Unity of god, and am glad to see our countrymen looking that question in the face. it must end in a return to primitive christianity, and the disbandment of the unintelligible Athanasian jargon of 3. being 1. and 1. being 3. this sermon is one of the strongest pieces against it. I observe you are about printing a work of Belsham’s on the same subject, for which I wish to be a subscriber, and inclose you a 5.D. bill, there being none of fractional denominations. the surplus therefore may stand as I shall be calling for other things. Accept the assurance of my great respect.

Th: Jefferson

PoC (CSmH: JF-BA); on a reused address cover from Josephus B. Stuart to TJ; two words faint; endorsed by TJ. Enclosure not found.

blair’s & adams’s books: Hugh Blair, Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres (Philadelphia, [1784], and other eds.; Sowerby, description begins E. Millicent Sowerby, comp., Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, 1952–59, 5 vols. description ends no. 4658), and John Quincy Adams, Lectures on Rhetoric and Oratory, 2 vols. (Cambridge, Mass., 1810; Sowerby, description begins E. Millicent Sowerby, comp., Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, 1952–59, 5 vols. description ends no. 4659). an editio optima is the “best edition.”

The delphin edition of Livy was Jean Doujat and Johann Freinsheim, eds., Titi Livii Patavini Historiarum Libri Qui Extant, 5 vols. (Paris, 1679–80; Sowerby, description begins E. Millicent Sowerby, comp., Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, 1952–59, 5 vols. description ends no. 52). clerk’s edition was Jean Leclerc (Johannes Clericus) and Johann Freinsheim, eds., Titi Livii Historiarum quod exstat, 10 vols. (Amsterdam, 1710; Sowerby, description begins E. Millicent Sowerby, comp., Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, 1952–59, 5 vols. description ends no. 54; Poor, Jefferson’s Library description begins Nathaniel P. Poor, Catalogue. President Jefferson’s Library, 1829 description ends , 3 [no. 27]). The edition of la malle was Jean Baptiste Dureau de la Malle, trans., Histoire Romaine de Tite-Live, 15 vols. (Paris, 1810–12; Poor, Jefferson’s Library description begins Nathaniel P. Poor, Catalogue. President Jefferson’s Library, 1829 description ends , 3 [no. 26]).

After this date TJ evidently received neither the unidentified work of belsham’s nor any other books from Wells & Lilly, with whom he no longer corresponded.

1Manuscript: “uman-ageable.”

2Preceding three words interlined.

Index Entries

  • Adams, John Quincy; Lectures on Rhetoric and Oratory search
  • banks; currency issued by search
  • Belsham, Thomas; and the Trinity search
  • Blair, Hugh; Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres search
  • books; classical search
  • books; on rhetoric search
  • Christianity; TJ on search
  • Christianity; works on search
  • Cicero; De Officiis search
  • Cicero; M. Tullii Ciceronis Opera Omnia (ed. J. A. Ernesti) search
  • Cicero; Tusculan Disputations search
  • currency; paper search
  • Delphin edition; TJ on search
  • De Officiis (Cicero) search
  • Doujat, Jean; editsTiti Livii Patavini Historiarum Libri qui extant (Livy) search
  • Dureau de la Malle, Jean Baptiste; translatesHistoire Romaine de Tite-Live (Livy) search
  • Elzevir, Daniel; as publisher of classical works search
  • Ernesti, Johann August; editsM. Tullii Ciceronis Opera Omnia (Cicero) search
  • Foulis, Andrew search
  • Foulis, Robert search
  • Freinsheim, Johann; editsTiti Livii Historiarum quod exstat (Livy) search
  • Freinsheim, Johann; editsTiti Livii Patavini Historiarum Libri qui extant (Livy) search
  • Histoire Romaine de Tite-Live (Livy; trans. J. B. Dureau de la Malle) search
  • Homer; Foulis editions of search
  • Jefferson, Thomas; Books & Library; and Delphin editions search
  • Jefferson, Thomas; Books & Library; orders books search
  • Jefferson, Thomas; Books & Library; receives works search
  • Jefferson, Thomas; Opinions on; Christianity search
  • Leclerc, Jean (Johannes Clericus); editsTiti Livii Historiarum quod exstat (Livy) search
  • Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres (H. Blair) search
  • Lectures on Rhetoric and Oratory (J. Q. Adams) search
  • Library of Congress; TJ sells personal library to search
  • Livy; Histoire Romaine de Tite-Live (trans. J. B. Dureau de la Malle) search
  • Livy; Titi Livii Historiarum quod exstat (eds. J. Leclerc and J. Freinsheim) search
  • Livy; Titi Livii Patavini Historiarum Libri qui extant (eds. J. Doujat and J. Freinsheim) search
  • Livy; TJ on search
  • M. Tullii Ciceronis Opera Omnia (Cicero; ed. J. A. Ernesti) search
  • Quintilian; TJ on search
  • rhetoric; books on search
  • sermons; sent to TJ search
  • Thacher, Samuel Cooper; Unity of God, A Sermon search
  • Ticknor, George; and books for TJ search
  • Titi Livii Historiarum quod exstat (Livy; eds. J. Leclerc and J. Freinsheim) search
  • Titi Livii Patavini Historiarum Libri qui extant (Livy; eds. J. Doujat and J. Freinsheim) search
  • Tusculan Disputations (Cicero) search
  • Unity of God, A Sermon (S. C. Thacher) search
  • Wells & Lilly (Boston firm); and books for TJ search
  • Wells & Lilly (Boston firm); letters to search