Finding evidence that Hume's History of England and his Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects frequently were on American bookshelves in colonial times is a step towards understanding the degree and nature of Hume's impact in eighteenth-century America. Given that past commentators have often misconstrued the wide dispersal of Hume's books, that preliminary step is an essential one. Since Hume's works were readily available in colonial America as early as the mid 1760s, new questions arise. How was Hume read? What was Hume's reputation in colonial America? How did his reputation change over time? How did Hume's ideas figure in the writings of his American readers? In short, how was Hume's thought received in colonial America and what impact did it have? In this chapter and those to follow I will attempt to answer these and similar questions.

As critics of book history rightly point out, the simple presence of a book on a bookshelf is not sufficient proof that it was ever taken down from the shelf, let alone read. That is especially so when dealing with the book ownership and reading of an individual. As one scholar puts it, “Few people are without unread books on their shelves, and ownership of an unread volume means little.” The evidence presented in the previous chapter concerns not one bookshelf and one potential reader, but hundreds. Common sense suggests, as well, that in early America books were too expensive not to be read upon purchase.