To Thomas Jefferson from John Barnes, 2 April 1799
From John Barnes
Philadelphia 2d April 1799
Sir
Your two favrs. 15th & 16th Ulto. were duly recd, and would have been Answered before this, but, in the hope, of succeeding—in procuring for you Myers Accot. of his travels in France 2 Volo: P.P. had not got it, or, any Other, Book store in Town. at least, I inquired of several, and left Order, with, Dobson, to procure them for me, if to be had. even at second hand—is now the Only chance left.—your draft for $350, is already paid—as Well Mr Shorts, 2d installments on his 42 shares $525, Scrip is down to 5 ⅌Ct. and the Necessitous Subscriber, must, perhaps, Content, himself—at par—rather than forfeit!—but I am still persuaded—they will rise again, Considerably—
—I have within these few days, Shipped the good Genl: Ks. two Boxes—and my letter to him—Covered, his a/c. of Sales, and a/ of his Remaining Articles on hand, &c—Addressed under Cover to Messrs. Nichs. & Jacob Van Straphorst & Hubbard—Amsterdam to whom also, I have added, Bill Lading & Bill of Exge. for f2631.11 Stivers .38 Cts. equal to $1000, ⅌ Ship Stadt, Hamburgh, Capt. Heer Sjoerds, for Hamburgh, (as well your three several packets Letters) to sail, the 7 Inst. Copies, ⅌ ship Juno—for do. in abt. 14 days
—your planes, Saws, Box of plants, Coffee and Rice are all ready, for Sloop Sally, Ed: Potter, who I expect will sail, for Richmond 8th. or 10th—
with much Esteem I am sir your Obedt. servt
John Barnes
RC (ViU: Edgehill-Randolph Papers); at foot of text: “Thomas Jefferson Esqr—Monticello”; endorsed by TJ as received 11 Apr. and so recorded in SJL. For TJ’s letters of the 15TH & 16TH of March, which have not been found, see note to Barnes’s letter of the 17th of that month.
Myers accot. of his travels in France: Friedrich Johann Lorenz Meyer, Fragments sur Paris, trans. Charles François Du Périer Dumouriez, 2 vols. (Hamburg, 1798). TJ was able to acquire the work the following year; see No. 3895. Very likely P.P. was Peter Parent, who had left Saint Domingue and established a French language printing and publishing business in Philadelphia in 1793 (H. Glenn Brown and Maude O. Brown, “Philadelphia Book Trade to 1820,” Bulletin of the New York Public Library, 54 [1950], 27; Frances Sergeant Childs, French Refugee Life in the United States, 1790–1800 [Baltimore, 1940], 138–9, 150, 179).
See TJ’s letter to George Jefferson on 16 Mch. 1799 regarding the Draft for $350, and see the letter from Barnes, 10 Mch., for the installments to pay for William Short’s 42 shares in the new U.S. loan.
Genl: Ks. two boxes: for the shipment of items to Tadeusz Kosciuszko in Europe, see also Barnes’s second letter of 6 Apr. below. In the statement included with his first letter of that date, Barnes detailed the Planes and other things shipped to TJ. A letter from Barnes of 1 Apr., recorded in SJL as received on 17 Apr., has not been found.