Beschreibung:

The New Olive Branch: or, an Attempt to Establish an Identity of Interest between Agriculture, Manufactures, and Commerce.
Philadelphia: M. Carey & Son, 1820. [6], x, 17-248 pp., 8vo (212 x 133 mm). 2 printed tables bound before the title. 4 pp. publisher’s ads bound in between pp. 238 and 239. Later half crushed olive morocco, spine stamped in gilt. Housed in a morocco clamshell case. Condition : minor browning and staining. Provenance : Thomas Jefferson (inscription on title, “Presented to Thos. Jefferson Esqr. / as a mark of respect / By the Author”; ownership initial “T” next to signature mark 1); Oscar Benjamin Cintas (bookplate); Sotheby’s New York, 12 December 2001, lot 227. thomas jefferson’s copy of an important early work on the economy of the american republic. Receiving the book in the spring of 1820, Jefferson wrote to Carey on 11 April: “I thank you, Sir, for the copy of your New Olive Branch, which you have been so kind as to send me. You have taken the right road to solve the great question which is the subject of it, by bringing it to the test of figures. Age and ill health have obliged me to abandon all such speculations, and to resign myself to the care of the authorities of the day, which I do with equal cheerfulness and confidence.” The “great question” addressed in this work was the worsening relationship between the southern agrarian society and the northern manufacturing one. Rather than siding with one, Carey here promotes the argument that the two are mutually dependent and advocates a protective tariff on foreign imports. “Carey took a leading part in forwarding a protective policy for this country. [His writings] are recognized as the classic American argument in favor of the protective system … He did more than anyone else, if we except Hamilton, to found the American nationalist school of economic thought” (DAB). Carey was a great admirer of Jefferson, and routinely sent him books from his press. Indeed, it was Carey who published the first American edition of Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia. Although in the early years of the republic Jefferson was noted for his staunch agrarian vision, in his later years he realized the necessity of both economic systems. In this work, Carey praises Jefferson for his revised position, though admits that his original views did much toward creating the dichotomy, writing on pp. 52-53: “There is a magic in great names which renders their errors highly pernicious. That Mr. Jefferson is a truly great man, is now, I believe, universally admitted, since the baleful passions, excited by party, have subsided, and the atrocious calumnies with which, in the days of faction and delusion, he was overwhelmed, have sunk into deserved oblivion.” Although the vast majority of Jefferson’s library was sold to the Library of Congress, a few copies of his books have surfaced on the market. Regarding his ownership mark, Rosenbach explains that "Jefferson never possessed a bookplate” and “only occasionally he wrote his name on the title-pages of volumes." However, Jefferson would consistently place his initial “T” in advance of the signature marks J or I, or place a “J” following the signature mark T if the work were that long. In this case, as the signatures were numbered instead of lettered, Jefferson has “signed” his initial “T” next to signature mark 1. a wonderful association. Rosenbach, "The Libraries of the Presidents of the United States," in Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society for October 1934; Sabin 10873. Not in Sowerby.