To James Madison from Ferdinand R. Hassler, 18 January 1827
From Ferdinand R. Hassler
New York 18th. Jany 1827.
Excellent Sir,
Excuse the liberty which I take to interrupt You again with the communication of a publication of mine the enclosed elements of Arithmetic1 which I have employed a few leasure days, in my unoccupied state to publish, upon desire of some persons that a better principled schoolbook might be published.
About 260 Copies being made on better paper as the one here joined, may serve for persons not minding a few cents, as that seems to be the case with School masters; the edition in 18° on inferior paper can be sold in sheets (in number) at 35 Cents to adapt to boys scholars so that they can be retailed to them at 50 Cents with profit for the master as usual.
I should of course like very much that it might come in use in schools, upon recomandation of proper persons it could take in such as are preparatory to Colleges. Mr Ryan2 Bookseller here and I can furnish, I shall also send some to Mr Davis3 Bookseller in Washington.
I will take the Liberty to join a Copy to communicate where You may find advantageous to procure it currency.
My trigonometry being now adopted in Columbia College here at the military Academy of Westpoint, Capt Partridge’s4 and Capt Cobbs5 in Georgetown D:C: which I hope all will take also the Arithmetic I should hope with some little protection to bring my books in use and reep some benefit from them.
I take the Liberty to recomand You my orphans and myself in Your Kind remembrance, and remain with the assurances of the peculiar attachment and esteem as ever Excellent Sir Your most obedt St
F: R: Hassler.
RC (DLC). Docketed by JM.
1. Ferdinand R. Hassler, Elements of Arithmetic, Theoretical and Practical: Adapted to the Use of Schools, and to Private Study (New York, 1826; 24813).
2. In 1826 James Ryan operated a “classical and mathematical bookstore” at 322 Broadway in New York City (American Catholic Historical Researches 2 [1906]: 335).
3. William A. Davis (d. 1826), a New York printer from 1795 to 1814, moved to Washington, where he printed and sold books in partnership first with John Brannan, 1817–18, and then with Peter Force, 1818–26 (Journal of the U.S. Senate, 14th Cong., 2d sess. [ 42599], iv).
4. Alden Partridge (1785–1854) of Vermont was a graduate of, professor at, and acting superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army, 1806–18. In 1819 he established the American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy at Norwich, Vermont. The academy was located in Middletown, Connecticut, from 1825 to 1829 before moving back to Norwich.
5. James D. Cobb, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and a former officer in the U.S. Regiment of Light Artillery, opened the Washington Literary, Scientific, and Military Gymnasium in Georgetown, D.C., on 4 September 1826 (Baltimore Patriot & Mercantile Advertiser, 2 Dec. 1826). Cobb had been court-martialed and dismissed from the U.S. Army in 1814, but a special 1830 act of Congress reversed this judgment and awarded Cobb his pay as a first lieutenant from 1814 to 1821 (Hopkins et al., Papers of Henry Clay, 6:884 n. 5).