Author: (Carpenter, Stephen Cullen)
Title: Memoirs of the Hon. Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State, Vice-President, and President of the United States of America
Description: Printed for the Purchasers, 1809. Hardbound. Old olive library cloth. Two volumes, title page replaced with typewritten tp in Volume 1. Vol. 1: iii, iv (since title page lacks), 404 pp. Vol. 2: ii, 434 pp. A rare set, sold with all faults as described. An excellent reading or reference set, not for the overly discerning collector however. Could easily be rebound. Appears to have been printed in New York. Howes describes this rare work as "Venomously critical; said to have been suppressed" due to its scathing description of Jefferson's years in public office and his foreign policy once president. A book with a curious history. It was copyrighted by "Thomas Hall" but contains neither the author's nor the printer's name. Tompkins 27: "Suppressed by the printers on account of the libels it contained. Parton calls them ‘two octavo volumes of vituperation.' " It is said that the printer, fearing the libel law, submitted the book to a lawyer, Samuel M. Hopkins of Auburn, who, after reading 20 or 30 pages, reported that he found an average of a libel per page. Howes C164; Sabin 11004; Shaw & Shoemaker 17514. Condition is good as follows: Olive green library cloth (ancient) with small "s" on mid-spine of each volume, as well as faint printed call numbers and name of former institution. Mostly uniform age-toning with scattered foxing. A few tiny dogears in volume 2. Formerly in the Apprentices Library, then in the Franklin Lyceum of Wilmington, Delaware, and finally in the Wilmington Institute Free Library, whose bookplate is inside each volume. card-pocket in each volume. Overall tight and clean, a very presentable set of these rare books .

Keywords: Biography / Autobiography ; Jefferson, Thomas ; ;


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