Autumn 2020 Catalogue

9 American Heroes & Leaders Autumn 2020 This important letter to his plantationmanager reveals Jefferson’s distress at the loss of his longtime servant and friend, Jupiter, who had died after insisting on making a journey fromMonticello to Fredericksburg despite Jefferson’s efforts to dissuade him. Light folds and creases, small paperclip mark at top left does not affect text, a few pinprick losses mostly at fold intersections, one spot lightly soiled, else near-fine condition. Letters by Jefferson discussing slavery are seldom encountered in the market, but attract tremendous interest due to one of Jefferson’s greatest paradoxes: his advocacy of liberty and equal rights despite the fact that he owned and treated others as property. Jefferson letters commenting on Jupiter’s death are extraordinarily rare—only four are known, and this letter is the only one in private hands. The three other letters, which Jefferson sent to his two daughters and his son-in-law in February 1800, are all in institutions.