William Jay to Noah Webster Jr., 17 July 1826
William Jay to Noah Webster Jr.
Bedford 17th: July 1826
Sir
My Father sometime since desired Mr. Converse1 of New Haven to place his name on the list of Subscribers to your Dictionary for six Copies. It has twice occurred to him, that the expense which this great work has already cost you & that which must still attend its publication, might perhaps render it convenient for you, to receive the amount of his subscription in advance.2 He therefore desires to inform you that you are at liberty should you think proper, to draw on my Brother P. A. Jay 398 Bd: Way New York, for $120, but it wd: afford my Father more pleasure, could he have an opportunity of paying you this sum in person. He likewise desires me to assure you of his best wishes for the success of your book & for your own health & prosperity. I have the honour to be Sir Your Obdt: Servt:
W. J.
Noah Webster Esqr:
C, in the hand of WJ, NNC (EJ: 08806). For Webster’s reply of 21 July, see below.
1. Webster and JJ had corresponded about Webster’s dictionary project in 1813. See JJ to Noah Webster Jr., 11 May 1813, above; JJ to PAJ, 30 Mar. and 4 May 1813, both above. Sherman Converse (1790–1873), a prominent New England publisher, whose work included the Connecticut Journal, the Christian Spectator, Silliman’s Journal, Swift’s Digest, and Webster’s American Dictionary.
2. Converse ran an advertisement announcing the publication of the American Dictionary beginning in Apr. 1826. The full advertisement listed the innovations of the work and letters of endorsements from such notables as Jared Sparks, editor of the North American Review, former president JM, DeWitt Clinton, governor of New York, and Benjamin Silliman of Yale. Converse stated that “The publisher undertakes this work, with full confidence that his efforts will be liberally encouraged by the literary and wealthy classes of the community. It is a work adapted to the wants and capacity of the man of business as well as of the scholar. It is a work of magnitude, and cannot be published without great expense, and therefore it cannot be undertaken without liberal patronage.” Appearing in two quarto volumes and printed on “fine linen paper,” subscriptions cost twenty dollars. Connecticut Herald (New Haven), 2 May 1826.