To Thomas Jefferson from Charles Smith, 20 October 1804
From Charles Smith
New-york October 20th. 1804
Sir,
It is not to the President of these happy States I beg leave to address myself—it is to Mr. Jefferson, the Man of erudition, the Philosopher and the friend of mankind whom I respectfully beg to accept the enclosed translation of a work, which, in my opinion does credit to Dr. Burkhard. If you, highly respected Sir, should find it worthy a place in your library, I should think myself gratified in a high degree.
I am with profound respect Sir Your most obedient humble St
Charles Smith.
RC (MoSHi: Jefferson Papers); endorsed by TJ as received 5 Dec. and so recorded in SJL with notation “with a book.” Enclosure: Johann Gottlieb Burkhard, Elementary or Fundamental Principles of the Philosophy of Natural History, trans. Charles Smith (New York, 1804); No. 1009.
Charles Smith (1768-1808) was a New York City author, publisher, bookseller, and stationer with a store at 51 Maiden Lane. Among his publications were Universal Geography Made Easy; or, A New Geographical Pocket Companion (1795); Monthly Military Repository, a two-volume octavo published from 1796 to 1797; The American War, from 1775 to 1783, with Plans (1797); and a short-lived weekly Youth’s News Paper in 1797. Smith was charged with insolvency in 1799. He later translated several German works, including Burkhard’s book on natural philosophy, which the Society of Associated Teachers of New York recommended for adoption in city schools (New York Argus, or Greenleaf’s New Daily Advertiser, 5 Jan. 1796; New-York Gazette, 5 June 1799, 12 July 1804, 13 Feb. 1808; , 1:706-7).