A Glimpse Into President Jefferson’s Library: He Reads with “Much Pleasure” the Memoirs of Friend, Dinner Guest, and Historiographer Marmontel
An unpublished letter as President to one of America's early German language publishers.
In 1785, while Minister to France, Thomas Jefferson met Jean Francois Marmontel, a true French Enlightenment figure who was an encyclopedist, historian, novelist, poet, philosopher and playwright. Marmontel was elected to the Académie Française in 1763 and became its permanent secretary in 1783. He was appointed royal historiographer in 1771. During the...
In 1785, while Minister to France, Thomas Jefferson met Jean Francois Marmontel, a true French Enlightenment figure who was an encyclopedist, historian, novelist, poet, philosopher and playwright. Marmontel was elected to the Académie Française in 1763 and became its permanent secretary in 1783. He was appointed royal historiographer in 1771. During the Revolution he retired to the country, where he wrote his 4 volume Mémoires d’un père (“Memoirs of a Father”), published posthumously in 1804. This work included a picturesque review of his life, a literary history of two important reigns, and a series of portraits of great figures. Though nominally written for the instruction of his children, its value to those interested in literature and history is great.
One such man was Thomas Jefferson, who was introduced to Marmontel in France by their common friend Philip Mazzei, a supporter of the America Revolution who afterwards traveled Europe promoting American ideas and institutions. The two became fast friends, and Jefferson cherished this friendship. An accomplished story teller, Marmontel dined often with Jefferson, who said, "He dined with me every Thursday for a long time and I think told some of the most agreeable stories I ever heard in my life." Jefferson recommended Marmontel's works liberally as necessary to any serious book collector. Marmontel's Memoires are said to have been influential in Jefferson's own autobiographical works.
Joseph P. Forster was a German immigrant who set up a newspaper Der Pelican, and then traveled to Alabama to become a pioneering printer in that state.
In 1806, shortly after the publication of Memoires, Jefferson set about finding copies of this work, which must have been difficult to procure. Two of the four volumes he found though his friend Thomas Law, an Englishman who was married to Martha Washington's granddaughter. And two were sent to him by Mr. Forster.
Autograph letter signed, as President, March 14, 1806, to Mr. Foster. "Thomas Jefferson presents his compliments to Mr. Foster and his thanks for the perusal of the 1st and 4th volumes of Marmontel, which have afforded him much pleasure and are now returned. He had before returned the 2nd and 3rd volumes to Mr. Law. He prays Mr. Foster to be assured of his esteem and regard."
At the bottom Forster's brother has written, "From the American President to my brother."
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