JEFFERSON THOMAS: (1743-1826) American President 1801-09, one of the Founding Fathers and the principal author of ...

JEFFERSON THOMAS: (1743-1826) American President 1801-09, one of the Founding Fathers and the principal author of the Declaration of Independence. A fine A.L.S., twice, as President, Th: Jefferson and Th:J, in the third person, one page, 8vo, n.p. (Washington?), 5th January 1804, to [Louis-Andre] Pichon. The President presents his salutations to his correspondent and invites him and his wife to dinner the following Monday, further remarking 'Th:J. has written an invitation to the same effect to M. & Made. Bonaparte, & their friends who are with them', explaining that he has used the phrase 'as while it includes the Baron de Maupertuis & M. Sotin, it might also include Mr. Patterson & Miss Spear who he understands are with Made. Bonaparte, or any other persons of whom he is uninformed and whose company would be agreeable to M. Bonaparte'. With integral address leaf in Jefferson's hand ('Monsr. Pichon'). With a small area of paper loss to the upper right corner of the integral leaf and corresponding neat tear to the upper right corner of the first page, both evidently caused at the time of the letter being opened. The small tear to the first page only very slightly affects a couple of letters of text and not the signatures and has been neatly repaired to the verso. A letter of good associations. About VG £8000-12000

Louis-Andre Pichon (1771-1854) French Diplomat who served as Ambassador to the United States 1801-04. Napoleon Bonaparte recalled Pichon to Paris in September 1804, reportedly for failing to have thwart the marriage of Jerome Bonaparte to Elizabeth Patterson.

Jerome Bonaparte (1784-1860) French Prince, the younger brother of Napoleon.

Elizabeth Patterson (1785-1879) American Socialite, the first wife of Jerome Bonaparte.

Jefferson refers to several other individuals including Baron de Maupertuis, an acquaintance of Jerome Bonaparte from the West Indies and apparently related to Bonaparte's mother; Pierre Jean Marie Sotin de la Coindiere was a former minister of police in France in 1797, appointed French commissary for Georgia in 1802 and a witness at the wedding of Bonaparte & Patterson; Mr. Patterson most likely refers to John Patterson, one of several brothers of Elizabeth, and not her father, William Patterson, who is known not to have accompanied his daughter and son-in-law to Washington; and Anne Spear, Elizabeth's maternal aunt.

The present letter is written shortly after the wedding of Jerome Bonaparte and Elizabeth Patterson which took place on Christmas Eve, 24th December 1803, in Baltimore, Maryland. Napoleon Bonaparte was angered by his brother's marriage and demanded that Jerome return to France and the marriage annulled. The demands were ignored initially, and Jerome refused to return to France without his wife. In the autumn of 1804 Jerome and his pregnant wife set sail for France in order to attend Napoleon's coronation, however on arrival Elizabeth was denied permission to enter continental Europe on the orders of Napoleon. Jerome travelled alone to Italy in order to reason with his brother, telling his wife that he would 'do everything that must be done', but tragically she would never see him again except for a brief eye-to-eye contact in 1817.

Provenance: Jefferson's letter would appear to have first been offered at auction by the Charles Hamilton Galleries in New York on 29th July 1976 (Auction 98, lot 152).