Americana Holiday 2022 - 44 - Thomas Jefferson’s Personal Copy Of Lloyd’s “Superior” Edition Of Estienne’s Historical Dictionary, 1671, With His Initialed Ownership Markings—The Sang Copy 40. (JEFFERSON, Thomas) STEPHANO, Carolo, latinization of ESTIENNE, Charles. Dictionarium Historicum, Geographicum, Poeticum. Oxford, 1671. Small folio, contemporary full dark brown calf gilt rebacked with original spine laid down, custom cloth clamshell box. $80,000. A superb presidential association copy—Thomas Jefferson’s personal copy with his characteristic ownership markings of an important historical dictionary based on Estienne’s famous 16-century Dictionarium, “the first French encyclopedia.” This is an early reissue of editor Nicholas Lloyd’s Oxford 1670 edition, in Latin, “superior to any of the previous editions”(Quarterly Review), in contemporary calf. From the renowned Americana collection of Mrs. Philip D. Sang. Rare and desirable. This volume was in Jefferson’s final “Retirement Library” when he died, and it contains Jefferson’s characteristic ownership identification marks—he has penned a “T” before the signature mark “I” on page 33 (the letter “J” not being used in signature markings) and a “J” after the signature mark “T” on page 73, thereby marking his initials twice in the volume. Jefferson owned two copies of the 1671 edition of this work. He sold one copy to Congress in 1815 (Sowerby 141). The other (this copy) he purchased in 1817 from a French bookseller; the original invoice is at the Massachusetts Historical Society and has been transcribed in the Papers of Thomas Jefferson. This copy was listed in Jefferson’s retirement library catalogue as “Caroli Stephani Dictionarium Histor. Geograph. Poeticum. Lloydii. fol.” (page 6, item 63), and it was sold at the 1829 Nathaniel Poor auction of Jefferson’s library as item 62 in that catalogue. According to a typed card laid into this volume, “The last owner in the Jefferson family was Mrs. C.R. Randolph, University Station, Charlottesville, Virginia.” Carolina Ramsay Randolph was a great granddaughter of Thomas Jefferson; her father was Thomas Jefferson Randolph. This copy was in the renowned Americana collection of Mrs. Philip D. Sang until 1985. This is an early reissue (with new 1671 title page) of Lloyd’s updated, expanded, and improved 1670 Oxford edition of Estienne’s historical dictionary of classical and Biblical people, places, and other proper names, the “first French encyclopedia.” (Sowerby 141). Estienne’s Dictionarium first appeared in France in 1553. Sowerby 141. Eight pages bear contemporary ink corrections or annotations in another hand. Occasional foxing, light wear to covers, corners expertly restored. A very good copy, with an extraordinary provenance, most rare from Jefferson’s library and with his ownership marking. Americana
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