From Thomas Jefferson to Philippe Reibelt, 21 June 1805
To Philippe Reibelt
Washington June 21. 05
Sir
It has been out of my power sooner to acknolege the reciept of your favors of June 11. 13. & 19. of the box of books sent here, I retain Le Botaniste Cultivateur, in 1st & 2d. vol. in expectation of the 3d. and 4th.
| Le parfait jardinier 4to | 1 | .30 | |||
| Culture de la vigne. Rosier &c. 2. v 8vo. | 2 | .50 | |||
| Des Abeilles. de la Rocca. 3. v. 8vo. | 3 | .20 | |||
| Portefeuille des artistes 4. cahiers. | 14 | .40 | |||
| Meteorologies des cultivateurs. 12mo. | .25 | ||||
| Ton de la bonne compagnie petit format. | .30 | ||||
| Plans d’Architecture par Becker 4. cahiers, | 17 | . | |||
| Landbaukunst von Meinert 4. cahiers. | 16 | .80 | 55.75 | ||
| 60. pr. cent | 33.45 | 89.20 |
the box, with the residue is repacked, & I am on the look-out for a vessel by which to return it to Baltimore. in this is also returned the print of the oak of Palaemon, because it is a line in which I do not indulge myself except so far as respects fine things in architecture. I inclose your catalogue. the corn you were so kind as to send me, I put into the hands of a good gardener; but it has not succeeded. I therefore rejoice it has succeeded at Baltimore, as I think it very valuable. considering lotteries as a species of gambling I have never permitted myself to become an adventurer in them for any object. with respect to your friend who proposes to settle at Charlottesville in the line of Pharmacy & Medicine, it is my duty to say frankly that, however eminent, I do not believe he could succeed there. Charlottesville is itself a little village of about 20. families, scarcely at their ease. the country is very sparsely settled, & the business of a physician in it excessively laborious, as it can only be performed on horseback. it is one of the healthiest countries in the world, & already has, in itself & it’s neighborhood, more physicians than it can maintain. these speak the language of the country, are natives, are in the midst of established friends & connections, possessed of the business of the individuals of the country, & could hardly be supplanted by any new competitor. with Richmond I am quite unacquainted, not having seen it the last 5. years, nor been there more than once or twice within the last 20. years. Accept my salutations & respects.
Th: Jefferson
PoC (DLC); at foot of first page: “Reibelt”; endorsed by TJ.
TJ prepared an almost identical list of books, which included two sets of prices for each title, a full rate and a rate discounted by 37.5 percent. On that list TJ canceled Le Botaniste Cultivateur and another work, which he identified as the six-volume “Modeles des portes, fenetres &c. Gothiques V meubles de Paris et Londres.” The list printed above included only the discounted prices TJ compiled for the other list, to which he then added a 60 percent surcharge, which he subsequently explained as the “cost in Europe” (MS in same: TJ Papers, 155:27107, entirely in TJ’s hand, on verso of sheet addressed “Mr. Jefferson”; List of Books Purchased from Philippe Reibelt, printed at 26 June).
parfait jardinier: the author of this work appeared on TJ’s other list as Mallet, probably Robert Xavier Mallet, who published several works on gardening and agriculture late in the eighteenth century ( No. 811).
Culture de la vigne: Traité théorique et pratique sur la culture de la vigne, avec l’art de faire le vin, les eaux-de-vie, esprit de vin, vinaigres simples et composés, a collaboration of Jean Antoine Chaptal, François Rozier, Antoine Auguste Parmentier, and Louis d’Ussieux. TJ later characterized the work as “the best ever published on the vine, & on wines” (same, No. 787; , 2:82).
Ton de la bonne compagnie: probably L’usage du monde, ou la Politesse, le ton et les manières de la bonne compagnie, published in Paris in 1804.