Fénelon's Telemachus in America

Les Avantures de Telemaque, Fils d'Ulysse. Composée par feu Messire François de Salignac, de la Motte Fénelon, Precepteurs des messigneurs les enfants de France.

1732 Estate inventory includes "Telemachus, French".

"Just Imported, And to be Sold by B. Franklin, for Ready Money only; the lowest Price being marked in each Book: Telemachus. 2 Vols. 12mo."

"Telemachus was listed in the 1744 edition of 'A Catalogue of Some of the Most Valuable Authors…Proper to be Read by the Students' at Columbia."

Philosophy is the Study of Trust and Wisdom in the Pursuit of Happiness and it is to be divided into THREE PARTS.

I. RATIONAL
I. In Rational Philosopy
...
"5. On Poetry, read Temple, Addison, Roscommon, Phaedra's, Ovid, Virgil, Horace, Martial, Terence, Seneca, Juvenal and Persius, Lucan, Lucretius, Hesiod, etc. Poetai mores; Homer, Sophocles, Euripides, Pindar: and of Moderns, Shakespeare, Milton, Dryden, Poe, Swift, Thomson, Gay, Young, etc., English Poets; and Boileau, Cambray's Telemachus, etc.

To William Strahan,
Sir. Philada. April 14. 1745

The above is a Copy of mine per Capt. Martyn. I have only to desire you to add the following Books. 6 French Testaments. 12 Boyer’s Grammars, 12 Cord[ier]. Colloqu[es]. French. 3 Cambray’s Fables. 3 Telemaque, 2 Travels of Cyrus, French. 2 Boyer’s Dictionaries 8vo. 1 New German and Eng. Dictionary and Grammar by Professor A. of Leipsig.5 Yours &c.
B Franklin

"Yet there was so much demand for the language of la Grande Nation that Nathaniel Gardner (A.B. 1739), a resident graduate, was allowed to give French lessons - President Holyoke's son was reading Télémaque with him in 1748."

Samuel Johnson to Benjamin Franklin
[November 1750]
Sir

...The only thing I can think of that may meliorate what you have done is that as the business of your third class seems less than that of the others, and that you say nothing of Rhetoric and Oratory considered as an Art, perhaps you might have done well to prescribe in that year the learning of some system of Rhetoric so as to have a good notion of the Tropes and Figures. The best I know of is that of Blackwell on the Classics; this therefore and the Port Royal art of Speaking … would be well thummed in that year. And … you might do well to mention Milton and Telemachus and the Travells of Cyrus with the works of Shakespear, Addison and Pope and Swift … as the best English classics....

[7 January 1751]
Idea of the English School
... Sixth Class.
In this Class, besides continuing the Studies of the preceding, in History, Rhetoric, Logic, Moral and Natural Philosophy, the best English Authors may be read and explain’d; as Tillotson, Milton, Locke, Addison, Pope, Swift, the higher Papers in the Spectator and Guardian, the best Translations of Homer, Virgil and Horace, of Telemachus, Travels of Cyrus, &c....

Telemachus in English verse.

French grammar and other French Books. The Boston Gazette.

"WILLIAM RIND has imported in the CHARMING NANCY, Capt. Brash, from London, and to be Sold for ready Money, at the House where the late Mrs. M'Leod formerly kept Tavern, in Annapolis, a large, entertaining, and instructive Assortment of BOOKS. consisting of....Telemach..."

List of books at Mt. Vernon includes Includes Telemachus—2 Do. [François de Salignac de La Mothe Fénelon, Archbishop of Cambrai. The adventures of Telemachus, the son of Ulysses. London, 1749];

Telemach

To Francis Hopkinson
London,
Dec. 16. 1767
Dear Sir
I received yours of Nov. 6. with the Account of your safe Arrival, which gave me and your Friends here great Pleasure....
...My best Wishes attend you, being with sincere Regard Your affectionate Friend and humble Servant
B Franklin
Mrs. Stephenson and Miss present their Compliments I shall remember the Telemachus.

Books were ordered from England.

"The books were as follows:....John Hawkesworth, trans., The Adventures of Telemachus, the Son of Ulysses … [by François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon] (London, 1768)..."

1721 English edition of The Adventures of Telemachus owned by Thomas Jefferson.

To Robert Skipwith,
with a List of Books for a Private Library
Monticello. Aug. 3. 1771.
Th: Jefferson To R. Shipwith
I sat down with a design of executing your request to form a catalogue of books amounting to about 30. lib. sterl. but could by no means satisfy myself with any partial choice I could make...

...Telemachus by Dodsley.

16-Volume edition owned by John and Abigail Adams, the entire course of study for a prince. Many allusions to Telemachus, including this excerpt:

"Un beau morceau est celui où les faiblesses de Télémaque, dans l'île de Chypre, sont peintes par lui-même avec une candeur, qui inspire l'amour de la vertu. C'est à de pareils traits qu'on reconnaît avant tout, et l'esprit et le cœur de Fénelon. Pour être sûr de plaire, cet homme respectable n'a eu qu'à peindre son âme." page 286, Volume 2. Cours d'Etude Pour L'Instruction de Prince de Parme Etienne Condillac

A fine morceau is the one where the weaknesses of Telemachus on the island of Cyprus are portrayed by himself with a candor, that inspires the love of virtue.  It is from such traits that one recognizes above all not only the mind, but the heart of Fénelon. To be certain of pleasing, this respectable man had only to portray his soul. 

From William Gordon
Jamaica Plain
May 13. 1778
My dear Sir
I have the highest opinion of secrecy in war. It supplies the place of numbers. It animates the assailants. The darkness and unexpectedness of the manoeuvre damps the courage of the assailed. I was early struck with the reply made by the Prince of Orange to an Officer who asked him the reason of an extraordinary movement and promised repeatedly that he could keep a secret: thank God my tongue is endowed with the same grace. I have admired the manner in which the Arch Bishop of Cambrais recommended this grace to the Dauphin in his Telemachus....

Oct. 24. Thursday.
... Dined at Cambray, visited the Cathedral, saw the Tomb of Fenelon, his Statue, Picture &c. Saw the Chapter where the Chanoines meet twice a Week, and saw also the Room where are the Portraits of all the Archbishops and Bishops ancient and Modern, and Fenelon among the rest. There is also in this Church a curious Piece of Clock Work, which represents the whole Proscess with Jesus Christ like that in the 7 Chappells of Mount Calvare.—Lodged at Peronne.

Aug. 8th. Friday.
This morning we set out from Halle at about 3 o’clock, and rode without interruption untill we arrived at Cambray at about 2 1/2 afternoon. We dined at Cambray, and after dinner we went to the Cathedral Church, and saw the tomb of François de Salignac de la Mothe, Fenelon; Archbishop, of Cambray, and author of Telemachus. At 4. we left Cambray and rode till 10, when we arrived at Roye where we put up for the Night.

In addition to selling editions of Les Aventures de Télémaque from foreign publishers, Boinod printed an edition in Philadelphia in 1784.

It was a small-format, side-by-side dual-language copy of The Adventures of Telemachus purchased specifically for his daughter Maria as an educational/family reading book.

1759 edition of The Adventures of Telemachus originally owned by Dr. Geoorge Bennington of Philadelphia and gifted to "His Excellency George Washington.

Martha Jefferson, wife of President Thomas Jefferson, also owned a copy of this 1759 edition.

HOND. SIR PHILADA.
Novr. 23. 92
I have sent by a Vessel just sailed a small cask of port wine—a few Glass & plate wares with some knives & forks and two or three Books for Fanny. They are addressed to Mr. Anderson. Among the Books are two translations of Telemachus. One was bought before that in 2 vol: which is the proper one for her use could be met with. The supernumerary one which is the best for the English reader may be disposed of. Wheat & flour have risen considerably, the latter to 41/. Pa. Cy. and the accts. from
Europe of different kinds, make it probable that the market will continue good. Yr. Affe. son
JS. MADISON

1795 English edition of The Adventures of Telemachus owned by George Washington. A copy of this edition, both volumes bound in 1, with the autograph of "Lawrence Lewis, 1800" (GW's nephew and executor) was sold by Thomas Birch's Sons, Philadelphia, 10 December 1890 (lot 19).In GW Inventory as 507. Telemachus, 2 vols. $1.00.

"...Blairs XLII and XLIII lectures will give you a new relish for the epic poems of Homer and Virgil; and will help you to form a judgement of Fenelon's Telemachus, Hoole's Tasso, and Milton's Paradise Lost and Regained...."

Letter written by Vice President Thomas Jefferson in February 1798, which was sent from the nascent nation’s capital in Philadelphia to a friend and New York book supplier named David Longworth.
Longworth, who had recently published a popular New York City directory, printed an English language edition of the political novel The Adventures of Telemachus Son of Ulysses. Jefferson requested he be subscribed to a few copies of the work.

John Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams
Trenton October 17. 1799

Sir
I received last night your favour of the 15th, the Sentiments and expressions of which are Such as cannot fail to render your Character Prosperity and Happiness more dear to me than ever….Minerva alone can conduct to Wisdom and her fruits. The Institution of Cyrus, & Telemachus are school Books, which because they lie upon the Shelf or the Table and are thumbed, from our Infancy at times and in parcells We suppose We have read: but very few have ever really read them. ...With every sentiment of Kindness / I am &c
John Adams

Telemachus and Mentor in the Island of Calipso

Wallpaper of scenes from Telemachus installed in the downstairs and upstairs foyer of the Hermitage, printed by Joseph Dufour et Cie of Paris.

In September 1824, Madison sent Thomas Jefferson a detailed list of recommended theological books for the University of Virginia library. In that list, he explicitly included "Fenelon" and noted the specific edition: François de Fénelon, Œuvres Complètes … (10 vols.; Paris, 1810).