Zadok Cramer to Thomas Jefferson, 30 October 1809
From Zadok Cramer
Pittsburgh, Octr 30, 1809
Friend Jefferson
I take the liberty, and the pleasure at the same, of transmitting a copy of a new spelling for thy inspection—It is totally of domestic materials of the western country, and will give thee an idea of our progress in the book manufactury, west of the mountains
With high respect for thy Services to the United States, and for the compliment thou paid me on a former occasion
Zadok Cramer
RC (MHi); endorsed by TJ as received 22 Nov. 1809 and so recorded in SJL.
Zadok Cramer (1773–1813) was a native of New Jersey who established a bookshop, printing press, bindery, and circulating library in Pittsburgh in 1800. His firm published the Navigator (1801–13), a guide to the Ohio River for boatmen, and Cramer’s Pittsburgh Magazine Almanack from 1806 until well after his death. Cramer’s edition of the journal of Patrick Gass was the first published memoir by a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (Pittsburgh Gazette, 30 Mar. 1800; Charles W. Dahlinger, Pittsburgh: A Sketch of Its Early Social Life [1916], 161–208; Gass, A journal of the voyages and travels of a corps of discovery [Pittsburgh, 1807; for a Philadelphia reprint owned by TJ see no. 4078]).
The enclosed new spelling was most likely The United States spelling book (Pittsburgh, 1809), published by Cramer, Spear, and Eichbaum. The compliment was probably TJ to Cramer, 12 Mar. 1808 (DLC), acknowledging receipt of Cramer’s edition of John Brown’s Dictionary of the Holy Bible (Pittsburgh, 1807; no. 1506).
Index Entries
- Brown, John; Dictionary of the Holy Bible search
- Clark (Clarke), William; and journals of Lewis and Clark Expedition search
- Cramer, Zadok; identified search
- Cramer, Zadok; letters from search
- Cramer, Zadok; The United States spelling book search
- Dictionary of the Holy Bible (Brown) search
- Gass, Patrick search
- Lewis, Meriwether; Lewis and Clark Expedition search
- Lewis and Clark Expedition; journals of search
- Lewis and Clark Expedition; publication of journals search
- The United States spelling book (Cramer) search