Mississippi Question: probably The Mississippi Question: Fairly Stated, and the Views and Arguments of Those Who Clamor for War, Examined (Philadelphia, 1803; Sowerby, description begins E. Millicent Sowerby, comp., Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, Washington, D.C., 1952-59, 5 vols. description ends No. 3471), a set of essays signed “Camillus” that originally appeared in Duane’s Aurora.

Ellicott’s Journal: Andrew Ellicott, The Journal of Andrew Ellicott, Late Commissioner on Behalf of the United States … for Determining the Boundary between the United States and the Possessions of His Catholic Majesty in America (Philadelphia, 1803).

Wilson’s Egypt: Robert Thomas Wilson, History of the British Expedition to Egypt (Philadelphia, 1803; Sowerby, description begins E. Millicent Sowerby, comp., Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, Washington, D.C., 1952-59, 5 vols. description ends No. 406); see Vol. 41:145-7.

Playfair’s Atlas: William Playfair, The Commercial and Political Atlas, Representing, by Means of Stained Copperplate Charts, the Progress of the Commerce, Revenues, Expenditure, and Debts of England, during the Whole of the Eighteenth Century (London, 1801; Sowerby, description begins E. Millicent Sowerby, comp., Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, Washington, D.C., 1952-59, 5 vols. description ends No. 2942).

Stevens’ Wars: Alexander Stephens, The History of the Wars Which Arose out of the French Revolution (London, 1803; Sowerby, description begins E. Millicent Sowerby, comp., Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, Washington, D.C., 1952-59, 5 vols. description ends No. 430).

Irish Wafers: a thin paste paper used to seal letters (Charles James, A New and Enlarged Military Dictionary [London, 1810], s.v. “wafer”).

New Testament: The New Testament of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Translated out of the Original Greek: and with the Former Translations Diligently Compared and Revised (Philadelphia, 1802); see Sowerby, description begins E. Millicent Sowerby, comp., Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, Washington, D.C., 1952-59, 5 vols. description ends No. 1490.

The purchases listed under 20 July included books for young people that TJ likely wanted for his grandchildren. The Pleasing Preceptor, subtitled Familiar Instructions in Natural History and Physics, Adapted to the Capacities of Youth, first published in London in 1800, was a translation of a work in German by Gerhard Ulrich Anton Vieth. Father’s Instructor was perhaps Thomas Percival’s A Father’s Instructions to His Children. First published in 1776, this educational book went through several American printings, including an 1803 edition published by Thomas Dobson in Philadelphia (Relfs Philadelphia Gazette, 26 Jan. 1803; Thomas Percival, A Father’s Instructions to His Children: Consisting of Tales, Fables, and Reflections [London, 1776]).

Plurality of Worlds: TJ owned a 1719 French edition of Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle’s 1686 work, Entretiens sur la pluralité des mondes, which expounded on the astronomical theories of René Descartes. An English translation, Week’s Conversation on the Plurality of Worlds, was published in Philadelphia in 1803; see Sowerby, description begins E. Millicent Sowerby, comp., Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, Washington, D.C., 1952-59, 5 vols. description ends No. 3782.

The book listed as Henry may have been Henry; or, The Foundling, by a prolific English author of children’s and educational literature, Mary Pilkington. The work appeared in a Philadelphia edition in 1801. Hermit may have been The Hermit of the Forest, and the Wandering Infants, a children’s tale by Richard Johnson with an edition published in Philadelphia in 1802. The History of Little Dick, first published in London in the early 1790s, instructed children about a “mischievous and incorrigible boy” who ends “unhappily, in the career of vice, as a bad man.” The book went through several American editions in the 1790s and early 1800s (The Monthly Review; or, Literary Journal, Enlarged, 4 [1791], 344; The History of Little Dick, Written by Little John [Philadelphia, 1803]). The Juvenile trials, also by Richard Johnson, was first published in London in 1786. It was was designed “to fix in the minds of youth, a sincere detestation for those smaller offences, out of which grow greater crimes.” Like other children’s books from Britain, it was frequently republished in the United States (Philadelphia Literary Reporter, 1 June 1809; Richard Johnson, Juvenile Trials for Robbing Orchards, Telling Fibs, and Other Offences [Philadelphia, 1801]).