Adams Papers

1778 Octr. 30. Fryday.
[from the Diary of John Adams]

1778 Octr. 30. Fryday.

Last Saturday I dined with Mr. Grand in Company with Mr. Gebelin Author of the Monde Primitif.1

1Antoine Court de Gébelin (1725–1784) was the author of Monde pritnitif, analysé et comparé avec le monde moderne, a vast and learned but unfinished work on mythology and language of which JA owned a copy (9 vols., Paris, 1775–1782) that he read and heavily annotated in old age. See Catalogue of JA’s Library description begins Catalogue of the John Adams Library in the Public Library of the City of Boston, Boston, 1917. description ends , p. 65; Alfred Iacuzzi, John Adams, Scholar, N.Y., 1952, p. 230–232. Court de Gebelin is said to have served as one of the editors of the Affaires de l’Angleterre et de l’Amérique, a vehicle of American propaganda in which Franldin and JA were much interested (Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Générale; description begins J. C. F. Hoefer, ed., Nouvelle biographie générale depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu’à nos jours, Paris, 1852–1866; 46 vols. description ends see notes on entries of 11 Feb. and 3 March 1779, below).

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