Books

Notes on the State of Virginia. Written by Thomas Jefferson. Illustrated with a Map, including the States of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. London: Printed for John Stockdale, opposite Burlington-House, Piccadilly. M.DCC.LXXXVII. 382 pages + small folding map at the front. Bound with: An Appendix to the Notes on Virginia Relative to the murder of Logan's Family. By Thomas Jefferson Philadelphia: Printed by Samuel H. Smith. M.D.CCC. 51 pages + map on the verso of the 51st page. ** Binding materials and condition: Bound in brown leather with marbled paper over boards. Maroon title label on the spine, Jefferson[s] Notes chipped at the right side. 5 gold rules on the spine. Front cover and first blank page detached but present. Rear cover attached by 1 cord only. The binding is likely to be original to the combination of the 2 separately printed books; circa 1800-1810, as the 18th/early 19th-century owner's name is on both boards. Front hinge was held together with tape at some point; its removal has left a whitish stripe along the right edge of the spine. In addition, the top layer of leather peeled off along the inner edge of the front board when the tape was removed. Rubbing to the marbled paper. Text block/binding is tight throughout. The pages have various small instances of spotting and from age, foxing, and handling. In addition, there are noticeable stains from moisture that deserve special notice: Inside front cover, front blank, second blank, folded map have a stain on the top right corner, extending about 3 inches from the corner and making a triangle. The stain continues onto the title page and the first 2 pages of text at the front, but much diminished (about 3 at the top and 1 on the outer edge, and much less distinct)... The same stain in the same spot reemerges on the title page of the Appendix and continues to the end, growing fairly prominent by the 23/23rd page of the Appendix and darkening slowly by the end of the text and including the rear blank and inside back cover. The moisture is also visible at the fore-edge, although it is most noticeable when you already know about the stain inside. Viewed closed, the fore-edge stain is hardly different from the overall darkening of the fore-edges. Interior markings: There is an early bookplate with a printed border on the inside front cover, Wm. Priestman No. 266 ARCH STREET, PHILADELPHIA. No. 1983 948 [numbers handwritten]. In addition, there are a few pencil notes on the inside front cover. $3.00 on the upper left corner of the front cover. London 1787. Appendix Philad. 1800 on the upper portion of the inside front cover. Lot 70 beneath the bookplate. First blank page has the name Dr. W.W. Evans written in pencil. Inside back cover has the name Wm. Priestman. Philadelphia written very neatly in black ink. The Map: The folding map at the front is the 1795/1800 version of Joseph Scott's map. (reference: William Woolridge's Mapping Virginia. Page 192. Shows both the 1795 map and the 1800 reissue.) It measures 8 x 9 [plate measures 6.5 x 7.5]. Moisture stain at the top, mostly in the margin. Virginia, as it was in 1800, outlined in blue. Most copies of the Stockdale edition included a large version of the Jefferson/Neele map. That map is not present here. It is clear from the water stain that the Scott map bound into this edition has been with it a long time, likely going all the way back to the time when the 1787 Notes was bound into this single volume with the 1800 Appendix. The 1800 map was American-made, and it is not unreasonable to think that the binder added it from bookstore stock during the binding process. It would have been at the time, the best readily-available map. Please email with questions, to request photos, or for further information on William Priestman or the printing history of the Notes.