Travels in North-America, in the years 1780, 1781, and 1782
London: G. G. J. and J. Robinson, 1787. xv, 462p: xii, 432p. Contemporary calf. Professionally rebacked. Complete with five foldout plates whereof two are maps. First edition in French appeared in 1786 followed by this translation printed in London a year later. Includes a mounted cutting from The Rosenbach Company Catalogue 16, Americana, March, 1913 on the inside front board.The right side of the cutting had to be carefully lifted off during the restoration process and remounted. An additional notation in pencil stating "Library of Dolly Madison" and 2 vol 35 which is presumably the second bookseller. Books from Dolley Madison's Library have a long history. President James Madison directed in his will that "I give to the University of Virginia all that portion of my Library of which it has not copies of the same editions, and which may be thought by the Board of Visitors not unworthy of a place in its Library, reserving to my wife the right first to select such particular books & pamphlets as she shall choose not exceeding three hundred volumes". So one can conclude that at least 300 volumes in Dolley Madison's library were in fact originally in President James Madison's library. Dolley Madison's (1768-1849) executor James McGuire conducted the first sale of her estate in 1851. it seems her Library was not entirely dispersed until some decades later at the Stan Henkel Auction in Philadelphia May 9th, 1899, where its listed as #255 in the sale catalogue. An annotated copy of the Stan Henkel Auction lists the buyer as "Earle". This could possibly be the lawyer and businessman George H. Earle (1856-1928), a frequent client of the Dr. Rosenbach. It then appears in Rosenbach's catalogues printed in 1906, 1907, 1911 and finally 1913 when it is sold. The original buyer is unknown, but the person certainly noted the provenance by attaching the cutting of the catalogue entry on the inside front board. The notation in pencil "From Dolly Madison's Library" in pencil and the price "2 vol 35-" that appears above the cutting indicates that the volumes past through a second bookseller. The Historian Rutland writes in his article Madison's Bookish Habits p176; "James Madison was a user, not a collector of books". he wanted them for the "knowledge they could furnish him in the great searches of his life". Marquis de Chastellux's travel was certainly an important work. Eberstadt 114: #211 describes it as the "most interesting of all the personal narratives of the American Revolution. Many important economic, social and personal facts are recorded: the character of the Country and of the men who directed the War and the formation of a government are described". Madison was certainly aware of Chastellux's arrival because he wrote Joseph Jones on December 5th, 1780, "We have in Town at present several gentlemen of distiction from the French army. Among them the Chev: de Chattelux the 2nd, in command a man of sense politeness & letters". So when selecting her 300 volumes, Dolley Madison certainly knew the personal connection of Chastellux's travel narrative. The Rosenbach catalog describes the book as in "excellent condition". It is certainly clear that the volumes experienced some mishandling in the 20th century. Corners are worn and there is evidence of a stain mark along the edge of the front board on volume 2. Old professional marginal paper repair on p211 in volume 2 not affecting the text. It seems annotations in the lower margin were removed and replaced with a blank leaf, small worm hole affecting inner margin of 5 leaves without impacting the text. A very good copy of an important historical travel narrative with a very important American provenance. See Madison's Bookish Habits, The Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress Spring 1980; Eberstadt's Catalogue of Americana 214:221, The Papers of James Madison vol 2, p225; Sabin B12229; O. Rich p338-339; Howes 324 "In its completed form constitutes the first trustworthy record of life in the United States" Item #10124
Price: $22,500.00