JEFFERSON, Thomas.

£9,750 · Offered by Peter Harrington

Notes on the State of Virginia. First American edition of "the best single statement of Jefferson's principles" (Peden, p. v), the only full-length book he published during his lifetime.The book originated in Jefferson's response to a wide-ranging questionnaire sent by François Barbé-Marbois, secretary of the French legation to the United States, to members of the Continental Congress. It offers "an engrossing commentary on various aspects of American life... Jefferson discusses in detail most of his major intellectual, social, political, scientific, and ethical beliefs... [it is] probably the most important scientific and political book written by an American before 1785; upon it much of Jefferson's contemporary fame as a philosopher was based" (Peden, p. v). This edition was preceded only by the very rare Paris edition of 1785 and the London edition of 1787.

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