Several other lives of Paul Jones, simply reproductions of the foregoing, with illustrations, and in cheaper popular form, have also appeared, worthy of place only in a bibliography. Later we have the "Life" by Buell, which, although he calls it a history, is simply a pleasing, popular romance.
The history of the logs here reproduced may be thought somewhat obscure, being founded upon some conjectures, deductions, and probabilities, as well as absolute facts. The editor purchased the log-book at the sale of the library of Mr. S. L. M. Barlow, of New York, in 1889, it being item No. 2760 in the catalogue prepared by Mr. J. O. Wright. Mr. Wright states that Mr. Barlow acquired the book through Mr. Harrisse or Mr. Stevens, of London, some time previous to 1869.
The portrait facing the title-page has been selected from the numerous engraved portraits of Jones as not only the best authentic likeness taken from life, excepting perhaps the bust by Houdon, but the earliest in point of execution, having been drawn by a celebrated artist, Moreau le Jeune, in May, 1780, when Jones was in command of the Alliance, at L'Orient.
The portrait by Charles W. Peale, now in Independence Hall, Philadelphia, was executed seven years later, and has been reproduced many times. A comparison of the two with the Houdon bust demonstrates at once that the Moreau le Jeune portrait is by far the more faithful likeness, and of a greater personality than Peale's painting, with which we are more familiar. The great number of engraved contemporaneous so-called portraits of Jones attest the interest attached to his career in Europe. Many of them are purely imaginative, and exist in all forms of engraving from the grand folio mezzotint to the absurd caricature, and have formed the special object of pursuit by many collectors of Americana, with the result of extraordinary values for the rare ones, including the one here reproduced.
The most remarkable collection of Jones' portraits, and pictures relating to Jones' career, is that of Mr. Grenville Kane, of New York.
The picture of the engagement is a rare print, and has been selected instead of the more familiar one taken from the painting by Richard Paton.
The original painting by Paton is owned by the heirs of Lord Amherst, whose ancestral estate included Flamborough Head, off which the famous battle was fought. It has recently been offered for sale for the sum of £3000.
In concluding this introduction to the logs, it has been the editor's purpose to avoid repeating the incidents of Jones' life related in his numerous biographies or quoting literally from his voluminous correspondence, but he has referred to them only in so far as they seemed to be connected in some measure with the log stories. The letters given in the Appendix have been copied from the originals and have never before been printed, while the extracts from Fanning's narrative are taken from a book of which very few copies are in existence.
A reprint of this narrative has been contemplated by the executive committee as one of the future publications of the Society, it being the only known autobiography of a man and officer who served under Jones in European waters.
It remains for the editor to express his acknowledgments to Mr. Robert W. Neeser, the secretary of the Society, for his very able assistance in the preparation of this volume for the press, in correcting and revising the proof-sheets, and in verifying the references.