Gilbert John Hunt, manufacturer and author, was making blank cards, calling cards, and playing cards in New York City by 1808. He supplemented his card business by making sandpaper, and in 1818 he advertised his American Vermillion Manufactory. In 1816 Hunt published The History of the Late War between the United States and Great Britain. Written in the ancient historical style (New York, 1816; Poor, Jefferson’s Library description begins Nathaniel P. Poor, Catalogue. President Jefferson’s Library, 1829 description ends , 5 [no. 144]), several variant editions of which, including a textbook, appeared from 1816–19. He also wrote poetry and issued a prospectus for a work in that genre. Hunt operated his New York shop until at least 1821 (Longworth’s New York Directory description begins Longworth’s American Almanac, New-York Register, and City Directory, New York, 1796–1842 (title varies; cited by year of publication) description ends [1808]: 182; [1819]: 12, 213 [misprinted as 113]; [1821]: 236; New-York Evening Post, 23 Mar. 1812; New York Columbian, 16 June 1812; New York Commercial Advertiser, 4 Mar. 1813; New York Mercantile Advertiser, 1 Aug. 1818; Proposal for Publishing by Subscription, the Poetical Works of Gilbert John Hunt [undated prospectus in DLC: Printed Ephemera Collection]; DNA: RG 29, CS, N.Y., New York, 1820).

The enclosed paper, not found, was a prospectus for Hunt’s History of the Late War.

For the payments described by TJ on the letter’s verso, see TJ to Hunt, to James Oram, and to John F. Watson, all 29 Feb. 1816.