Freeman’s | Hindman Presents Books and Manuscripts Sale Led by The Works of Aeschylus From Thomas Jefferson’s Retirement Library

Freeman’s | Hindman will soon present its February 6 Books and Manuscripts sale, which features a seven-volume set of The Works of Aeschylus from the personal library of Thomas Jefferson. This volume comes from Jefferson’s final book collection, deemed his “Retirement Library,” before he died in 1826. This was “a collection for myself of such as may amuse my hours of reading,” as described by Jefferson to David Warden in 1815. The Works of Aeschylus was put together primarily for Jefferson’s pleasure and was comprised of works and editions from authors that Jefferson held in the highest regard. Aeschylus is the father of the Greek tragedy. His surviving plays lend an understanding of earlier Greek tragedy. He was likely the first dramatist to present plays as a trilogy.  

Collectors of early Americana can appreciate a beautiful and scarce copy of Peter Force’s Declaration of Independence in the auction. In 1823, to commemorate the approaching 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams commissioned William J. Stone to create an exact copy of the original document. Stone spent three years copying the original document to a copperplate. A decade later in 1833, Peter Force, a printer, archivist, and mayor of Washington, D.C., was commissioned by Congress to create a history of the United States. Force scoured the country, collecting America’s colonial origins and the foundation of the Federal government. He found the original copperplate with which the available scarce copy was printed. Additional highlights include Isaac Leeser’s The Law of God, the first Jewish translation of the Torah into English; a handsome first edition of John Gould’s Monograph of the Odontophorinae, or Partridges of America; and a striking mid-19th-century Russian album of original illustrations depicting the peoples of the Russian empire. View the catalog of Books and Manuscripts auction by visiting Freeman’s | Hindman.