Neilson's Greek Exercise. Abridged and Revised in Syntax, Ellipsis, Dialects, Prosody, and Metaphrasis; To Which is Prefixed, a Concise, but Comprehensive Syntax for the Use of Colleges, Academies and Schools. By the Principals of Baltimore College

Baltimore: Printed for the Proprietors by Swain & Matchett, 1809. Hardcover. Good. First American edition (the book was first printed in Edinburgh, 1806). Octavo. pp. viii, 171, [1]. Text in Greek and English. Contemporary full mottled calf, recased and with a 20th Century rebacking in morocco, old red morocco label preserved on the spine, edges worn, good and sound.

Thomas Jefferson's copy, with his block initial marks at signature I ("T"), and at signature T ("I"), and with approximately 42 corrections and emendations in his hand in the text over 32 different pages. Most of the corrections amend the spelling of Greek words by crossing out or underlining the improper letter, and inserting in the margin the correct letter. Many of the corrections are to the Greek, but several also correct errors in the English, such as where he has corrected "Ulyssus" to read "Ulysses" by crossing out the "u" and inserting the "e," or inverting "Is it" to "It is" in a declarative sentence. All the corrections are listed in an errata at the back, and the story goes, though not yet confirmed, that the book was corrected for his daughter who was at the time studying Greek.

Jefferson's use of block initials at signatures I and T began in 1815 after the sale of his so-called Great Library to the Library of Congress; prior to 1815 his books were marked with cursive initials.

Poor, Nathaniel P., *Catalogue. President Jefferson's Library*, 1829, no 851; see also Bear, James A., Jr., *Thomas Jefferson's Book-Marks*, Charlottesville, 1958; "Jefferson, the Book Collector," in *The Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress*, Vol. 29, No.1, January, 1972, p.32-48. Ex-Cal Otto.