1869

Mosby, John S., 1833-1916

Book signed

Title: The miscellaneous works of William Hazlitt. Vol I.

Signed by Mosby, also signed by Eppa Hunton. Mosby's signature is partly crossed out. The book is a collection of essays written by Hazlitt. Mosby sold his Warrenton, Virginia Library when appointed United States Consul to Hong Kong in 1878; General Hunton purchased it.

GLC03072

January 14, 1814

Adams, John, 1735-1826

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Reverend Colman

Adams in retirement to Colman (also called Coleman by Abigail Adams in GLC 2515), a minister in a neighboring Massachusetts town. References various works of literature and says Spencer's Fairy Queen is a work of genius. Jokingly says his life has become wrapped up in books, "I have the Vanity to claim a distant remote kindred to the Family of Searches ... But this drop of Searches blood has drawn up on me a flood of Volumes from all quarters." Says his granddaughter is reading to him from "Tuckers Vision," a book Colman loaned Adams.

GLC02852

1828

Polk, James K. (James Knox), 1795-1849

Book signed

Title: A System of penal law for the U.S.A. ... by Edward Livingston

Signed twice by Polk. Printed by Gales & Seaton.

GLC03337

January 28, 1834

Marshall, John, 1755-1835

Autograph letter signed

Title: to unknown

Acknowledges receipt of a catalog and states that "The Librarian alone is authorized to purchase for the law library of the United States." Pasted to support board.

GLC03360

21 March 1857

King, Preston, 1806-1865

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Francis Preston Blair

New York Senator King informs Blair, editor of the Washington, D.C. newspaper The Globe, that he could not withdraw a book Blair requested from the Library of Congress. States that he is unable to acquire the book in the United States and asks Blair if he should order a copy from England. Informs Blair that he gave family friend Mrs. Fremont a package for Miss Betty Blair, Francis' daughter.

GLC03209.11

4 January 1874

Spinner, Francis Elias, 1802-1890

Letter

Title: to C[harles]. L[afayette]. MacArthur

Thanks him for a copy of the second series of the Breitmann Ballads since his copy keeps getting stolen. The "Hiram Irvines are largely on the increase just now, and I fear the party has not the right kind of men at the front to lead them off." Feels it is possible that Congress will enact a workable monetary policy: "what is really needed, next to the resumption of specie payments, is a currency, that will at all times adapt itself to the business wants of the country." Written as Secretary of the Treasury.

GLC03224

17 August 1811

Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Benjamin Rush re: thanks for lectures on medicine, mathematics; health, etc.

Signed twice on address leaf with Free frank written in another hand. Ford, Jefferson's Works, 11:211-13 and Butterfield, Rush Letters, 2:1073-76, 1098-1100. Written in Poplar Forest.

GLC03248

1966-1970

Streeter, Thomas W. (Thomas Winthrop), 1883-1965

Book

Title: The Celebrated Collection of Americana formed by the late Thomas Winthrop Streeter

GLC03261

1863-1864

Various

Book

Title: [Virginia state documents]

One bound volume that includes messages by and reports to Governors John Letcher and William Smith. From a variety of departments including: messages of the Governor, report of the board of visitors of the Virginia Military Institute, report relative to the returns of elections, papers relative to the recent call for enslaved people to build and work on fortifications, report of the editor of public accounts, report of the board of public works, report of the superintendent of the penitentiary, report of purchases of raw materials for the penitentiary, report on public library, the…

GLC03620

December 31, 1860

Lincoln, Mary Todd, 1818-1882

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Fanny Barrow

Thanks Barrow for the box of books she sent for her sons and states it arrived the day after her son William's birthday. She then writes of the impending Civil War, "Trusting that the gloomy cloud which hangs over our beloved country may soon be dispelled and that peace and harmony may be restored." Addressed to Barrow in New York City. Year inferred from envelope.

GLC04030

1849-1852

Moore, John, 1826-1907

Header Record

Title: [Collection of John B. Moore letters and a 37-page travel diary] [Decimalized .01- .06]

Covers the first few years of Moore's medical career before joining the army. Medical references, including a cholera epidemic in Laconia, Indiana (1) and diseases and medical treatments in England and Ireland (2, 5, 6). Written from Indiana, New York, and England and Ireland where he traveled as a tourist, with special interest in visiting hospitals. A travel diary describes his trip to England and Ireland in 1851, corresponding with some of his letters. He writes about sightseeing (museums, cathedrals, transportation systems, etc.), mentions Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, notes…

GLC04192

1740

Book

Title: [Geography anatomiz'd; or, The geographical grammar. Inscribed by William Ellery].

Signed by William Ellery and dated as his property "1744/5." Also signed by George Wanton Ellery. The sixteenth edition, corrected and somewhat enlarged; and a set of new maps, by Mr. Senex. William Ellery graduated from Harvard College in 1747. A Member of the Continental Congress from 1776 until 1785, William Ellery was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. George Wanton Ellery was the son of William Ellery.

GLC04229

1742

Watts, Isaac, fl. 1742

Book

Title: [Philosophical essays on various subjects; viz., space, substance, body, spirit. Inscribed by William Ellery].

Also signed by William Ellery and George Wanton Ellery. Title continues: "the operations of the soul in union with the body; the production and operations of plants and animals; with some remarks on Mr. Locke's Essay on the human understanding. To which is subjoined A brief scheme of ontology, or the science of being in general, with its affections." A Member of the Continental Congress from 1776 until 1785, William Ellery was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. George Wanton Ellery was the son of William Ellery.

GLC04230

12 November 1794

Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826

Signature

Title: Notes on the State of Virginia (George Washington's copy)

Signed by Washington on the title page. The book is the second American edition of Notes on the State of Virginia, published by Mathew Carey in Philadelphia, with original worn sheep binding. Jefferson's book not only covered geography of Virginia, but also government, Indians and slavery. Washington's papers show he purchased this on 5 January 1795. There are no notes inside the book. This edition lacks the Fry-Jefferson map sometimes found in the first American edition (and usually found in the first edition published in London).

GLC04389

1786

Jeffries, John, fl. 1790

Book signed

Title: A Narrative of the Two Aerial Voyages of Doctor Jeffries... (George Washington's copy)

"A narrative of the two aerial voyages of Doctor Jeffries with Mons. Blanchard; with meterological observations and remarks...." Printed for the author. Small folio format, signed on the titlepage by George Washington. Handsome tree-calf binding. With handsome frontispiece engraving of Jeffries. Jeffries had been a Loyalist who went to England where he pursued research on air, its properties and balloons. After this flight, he went to Paris, dined with Franklin and met John Paul Jones. He returned to Boston in 1790. In 1794, Blanchard came to America and in Philadelphia, with…

GLC04936

16 December 1815

Adams, John Quincy, 1767-1848

Letter signed

Title: to Joseph Pitcairn

Written in the hand of Louisa Catherine Adams, requests that Pitcairn purchase and send Adams a copy of Johann Bode's "Uranographia," which contains "the most complete exposition of the starry Heavens, that has ever been exhibited." Mentions writing to Secretary of State James Monroe to obtain an appointment for Mr. Mowbray as Consul of the United States at Leith. Pitcairn was the U.S. consul in Hamburg. .

GLC04900.02

July 9, 1803

Lafayette, Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert Du Motier, marquis de, 1757-1834

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Charles James Fox [in French]

Lafayette writes to English politician and friend, Charles Fox, regarding his own health. Lafayette had recently broken several bones and torn tendons in a fall, but reports that he is on that mend and will soon be back at La Grange, his country estate outside of Paris. He commends Fox on his attempts to forge peaceful relations with France. He also believes that all will soon agree that the acquisition of the Louisiana territory from the French by the United States is for the best. He notes that the letter will be brought to Fox by James Monroe, then American Ambassador to England. He asks…

GLC04800

November 10, 1828

Lafayette, Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert Du Motier, marquis de, 1757-1834

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Jeremy Bentham

Lafayette confirms that he has settled on his farm at La Grange and indicates that he is studying Bentham's philosophy. He discusses standing armies and the role of the militia in defending the United States. Also discusses "the impeachment of ministers" and labels himself "a disciple of the American School," and includes commentary on the French Revolution.

GLC04801

1897

Washington, George, 1732-1799

Book

Title: A Catalog of the Washington collection in the Boston Athenaeum

Compiled by William Coolidge Lane. First edition, 8vo, frontis portrait, 1 other plate and 12 facsimile titlepages. "A catalogue of the books from Washington's library and assorted Washingtoniana on deposit at the Athenaeum, with an inventory of Washington's books as drawn up by the appraisers of his estate, and the later history and present ownership of those books not in the Athenaeum collections." Includes a re-ordered transcript of the estate inventory of Washington's library.

GLC06187

9 January 1831

Lincoln, Thomas, 1812-?

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Bela Lincoln [incomplete]

Writes to his brother in Dennysville, Maine. Briefly mentions sleigh riding in the winter. Informs that he went to Washington on the railroad [Baltimore and Ohio Railroad] and describes how the trains run, "the difference between a rail-road and any other is that the carriages run on a bar of iron or rail instead of running on the ground." Includes illustrations of train tracks, a wheel, and a train crossing a bridge on page two. He is happy to hear that Bela's town is setting up a small library and he has some books to give. Another brother named Ben [Benjamin] continues the letter on…

GLC06052

2 May 1862

Broadside

Title: News-Letter Extra

Union Soldiers' newspaper printing correspondence between Commodore David G. Farragut and the Mayor of New Orleans (it is unclear which mayor, there were six in 1862). Copied from the "New Orleans Cresent" of 29 April 1862. Also includes a column titled "Eight Great Blunders" copied from the "Religious Herald," a Baptist newspaper out of Richmond, Virginia. Lists eight greatest blunders of the Confederacy, including #2: "In believing that there would be a divided North, and an apathetic Federal Government." List of the deaths of six men in the 13th Connecticut regiment since leaving New York…

GLC06107.19

25 July 1786

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Diego Gardoqui y Arriquibar

Writes to provide a list of books he recommends to Gardoqui, which can be obtained "in this city" (likely New York). They are not all of the same genre, but would "suite the tastes more or less of every man of reading." Regrets that not all have been written and printed in the United States. The list itself is not included.

GLC02437.03285

18 May 1784

Willard, Joseph, 1738-1804

Autograph document signed

Title: [Expression of gratitude from the president and fellows of Harvard College]

Willard, President of Harvard College, expresses thanks on behalf of Harvard for Henry Knox's "kind present to this University, of a number of valuable books on folio."

GLC02437.03001

27 May 1796

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Samuel Hodgdon

Has received Hodgdon's last letter, and is glad the forte piano was not sold (see GLC02437.06744 for related information). Is not leaving Boston as early as he expected, due to some work he must do with the legislature, so asks Hodgdon to send all the furniture and books to him in Boston. Discusses financial transactions with Mr. [William] Bingham and General [Henry] Jackson.

GLC02437.06752

30 September 1821

Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826

Letter signed

Title: to James Breckinridge

Discusses the plans for construction and related finances at the University of Virginia. Proctor of the University Arthur Brockenbrough was involved in assessing the costs so that they could plan for the construction of a library.

GLC07106