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Earliest known Thomas Jefferson signed ALS to have ever been offered for sale!
Earliest known Thomas Jefferson signed ALS to have ever been offered for sale!
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Description:

Jefferson Thomas 1743 - 1826 Earliest known Thomas Jefferson signed ALS example to have ever been offered for sale! Revealing content from the young lawyer "You further ask me if I propose to practice in the General Court? Yes..."



Single page ALS scripted entirely in the hand of Thomas Jefferson, 7'" x 9". Dated "April 17, 1767", and signed by Thomas Jefferson as "Th Jefferson". Letter somewhat thin and worn, laid on to a backing sheet. Edgewear and expected folds. Outer margins missing in several areas affecting text, several words are rubbed along the folds, however the body of the letter and intent and intact, with the letter quite legible containing strong definition and contrast to the script. Small tear to the right edge outside of margin along the backing sheet. Accompanied with documented provenance as noted below.

We all know Thomas Jefferson the man, and his indelible and well documented mark he left on history. But how may of us know him as a person, in his boyish youth having recently graduated from Law school at William and Mary, and in the year he was first admitted to practice law. Although one can read about this period of his life perhaps dryly and factually in a book, one can only really get a true feel of his persona via something much more personal. Here we have an outstanding example of the earliest Thomas Jefferson signed letter to have even graced the rooms by more than ten years . This warm, sometimes jocular, sometimes boyish, and sometimes serious letter was written by Jefferson when he was just 24 years old, shortly out of Law School. His effervescent and buoyant letter is addressed to his peer, and close collegiate friend, John Page, whom he continued to stay close to for the balance of his life. In classic male bonding style Jefferson throws about references and accolades using the last names of their mutual college friends and family. He bounces about his letter commenting on numerous college friends including "Page" (the recipient of the letter and a classmate from Jefferson's alma mater, William and Mary college), "Carr" (a close friend who married Jefferson's sister Martha in 1765), "Walker"(Jefferson's Guardian upon his fathers death), "Willis" (Jefferson's college from William and Mary", and "Warner Lewis" (another classmate from William and Mary), among others. His jousting manner meanders about from calling "Page's" new born child "your heir apparent", to later in the letter commenting to Page about another friend asking if he can "make my compliments to (illegible) and endeavor to bring him over at least for day or two if he has made himself adept in the arts of elocution", with yet another reference to their mutual friend Willis mentioning ... "Willis I am told is on the brink of matrimony: a comfortable prospect" This revealing boyish, male bonding letter also has Jefferson throwing out a Latin quote from their Law School days of: Nil mihi rescribas attamen ipse veni (Latin translation of: Come If you Can Before Your Letter).. somewhat on the scale of a 'private language code' that two people share from a mutual experience.

But the depths of the letter also transverses into areas of family and business, touching upon a rare alluding comment about his wife and family "I left my wife and family well", and regarding business "If your debt is not called for soon I am afraid we shall be barred by the act of limitations"' . Jefferson also makes reference to the general tumultuous background of his life which we know was in preparation to his involvement politics just before he is elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses where aligns himself with the young radical faction, led by George Washington and Patrick Henry; while simultaneously beginning construction on a new home at Monticello.

This scarce, coming to age unpublished letter offers a highly personal revealing look at Jefferson's life and boyish personality. This is the earliest known signed example to have ever become available with NO EARLIER SIGNED LETTERS BY JEFFERSON EVEN BEING OFFERED FOR SALE.

An incredible piece with the reader knowing it would be only 9 years before the author would produce the Declaration of Independence

The letter is shown below in full as:

" Williamsburgh April 17, 1767

Dear Page

Your welfare that of Mrs Page, and your heir apparent give me great joy: but much was disappointed at not seeing you here today. Surely you will visit the city some time in the (illegible) do not let family attachments totally extricated you. in answer to the interrogatories of ...., I left my wife and family well; I have been in constant health myself and still continue .... I left well, but brought nothing from him except assurance of his friendship; I have never .... From you. You further ask me if I propose to practice in the General Court? Yes .... year and ... as I speak it! .... Resolution has occasioned my deferring an .... hitherto and might perhaps have done it perpetually, had not the opening made by its many .... retiring from the bar have made this time peculiarly proper. I do not however propose to do ... in court till October; yet the attention to business now become necessary renders it impossible to my friends in Glocester before I return, which will be about the 3rd of May, nor am I comforted with any certain prospect of doing it at any future time; since the same obstructions are likely to continue and even to increase. I shall be here again at the (illegible) court but that will be only for a day. I have a great ... to you from Carr, Walker and myself of which yourself, Fontaine and Warner Lewis are torn apart what this is I shall leave to your own surmises til I see you, only assuring you that we have been taking the necessary measures for success on our part and have a tolerable prospect of not being disappointed. Make my compliments to (illegible) and endeavor to bring him over at least for day or two if he has made himself adept in the arts of elocution I would be glad by Sheridan for the service of some other friends who have asked it of me. I wish much to hear something of your domestic affairs but Nil mihi rescribas attamen ipse veni (Latin translated means: Come If you Can Before Your Letter). Willis I am told is on the brink of matrimony: a comfortable prospect, twin infants of (illegible). If your debt is not called for soon I am afraid we shall be barred by the act of limitations make my compl to Mrs. Page, to Mann, to the family at North River, and to your sisters with an assurance that their and your happiness is principally conducive to that of

Your friend and servant

Th Jefferson"

Provenance: This item was recently discovered in an extra illustrated volume of "History of the City of New York" by Mary L. Booth, New York W. R. C. Clark, 1867. Originally two volumes, the monumental task of expanding the work to 21 volumes by none other than Emery E. Childs esquire of New York City. In volume 1 of this work exists a lovely india ink Drawing of Mary L. Booth along with a notation "presented by her to E E C" in pencil. Next to the title page we find an original letter of Booth to Childs dated April 4, 1872 " I am in receipt of your favor of the 4th inst., and am grateful to hear that you are taking the trouble to illustrate my History of the City of New York in the manner you describe. I shall be happy to see you, should you favor me with a callas I am usually in my office during business hours and should be pleased to facilitate your Enterprise by any means in my power"

It is assumed that the book took several years to assemble at which point, assumedly through Childs, it made its way to Senator Charles B. Farwell of Chicago who took the seat of John A. Logan in 1887. Farwell had an extensive library that fortunately survived the great Chicago fire in 1871 having been housed in his Lakeside home. In the American Bibliopolist of November 1871 there is an article about the devastation to libraries caused by the tragedy . "Mr C. B. Farwell's library is also fortunately far out from the city, at his country house, and is safe, The same remark will also apply to the extensive collection of books and curiosities belonging to Mr. E. E. Childs." This establishes the Chicago connection between Childs and Farwell.

That these letters were preserved for over 140 years and have never been on the market for that period is remarkable on many levels. It is the state of being wedged in these volumes that also account for what is mostly the pristine state of preservation.

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