London printer John Stockdale incorporated this "advertisement" as a preface to the first English language edition of Notes on the State of Virginia, published in 1787.
THE following Notes were written in Virginia in the year 1781, and somewhat corrected and enlarged in the winter of 1782, in answer to Queries proposed to the Author, by a Foreigner of Distinction, then residing among us. The subjects are all treated imperfectly; some scarcely touched on. To apologize for this by developing the circumstances of the time and place of their composition, would be to open wounds which have already bled enough. To these circumstances some of their imperfections may with truth be ascribed; the great mass to the want of information and want of talents in the writer. He had a few copies printed, which he gave among his friends: and a translation of them has been lately published in France, but with such alterations as the laws of the press in that country rendered necessary. They are now offered to the public in their original form and language.
Feb. 27, 1787.
See Jefferson's original, hand-written manuscript, including edited draft content that reveals insights into Jefferson's writing process. Available courtesy of the Coolidge Collection of Thomas Jefferson Manuscripts at the Massachusetts Historical Society.
