THOMAS JKFFEKSON'S IJOOKS.
The story of the third president's library
gathered together in Europe1 and the United
States its sale to the government the found
ation of the present Congressional Library-
Details of the collection.
1IY AIN8WOHTII II. SI'OFFOIU ) .
Of notable book collectors very few
nre to be found among the presidents of
the United States. Washington and
both the Adamses had moderately good
private libraries , that of Washington
( now in part preserved in the Boston
Athcmcum ) numbering about a thous
and volumes. Garfleld collected per
haps as many more , but the only presi
dent who made what could be termed a
notable collection of books was Jefferson.
He began it early in life , and before he
went to France as minister he had ac
quired a fairly good select library , es
pecially iu political { --cionco and juris
prudence. As an example of his assidu-
itjin this direction , ho copied with his
own hand several volumes of Virginia
laws , either out of printer never printed ,
and these form a part of his collection
now in the Congressional Library.
In Paris , where he resided six years ,
he continued to amass books for his
library , frequenting book shops on the
quays along the Seine ( then rich in in
tellectual spoils ) and placing orders
with commissionnaires for works de
sired , until ho had accumulated an ag
gregate of nearly seven thousand vol
umes. Returning home in 1789 , Jeffer
son collected but few books during his
busy year , as secretary of state and as
president. Six years after retiring from
the presidency , in 1809 , he found himselt
encumbered with debt at Monticello ,
"An old man broken with the storms
of state. "
For ho had kept open house with
old-fashioned Virginia hospitality for
years , the "hotel Jefferson , " being a
resort for countless friends , admirers
and foreign visitors. This , with short
crops , an estate neglected during his
long absence at Washington , and en
dorsements for relatives , reduced him
almost to penury.
Ho then embraced the opportunity of
the destruction of the entire Library of
Congress , with the burning of the capitol -
tel by the British army in Atigust , 1814 ,
to tender his collection to the govern
ment at such valuation as might bo
agreed upon. In a letter to his friend ,
Samuel H. Smith , a member of congress
and publisher of the National Intelli
gencer , Jefferson wrote :
"I learn from the newspapers that the
vandalism of our enemy has triumphed
at Washington , over science as well as
the arts , by the destruction of the pub
lic library , with the uoblo edifice in
which it was deposited. Of tin's trans
action , as of that of Copenhagen , the
world will entertain but ono sentiment.
* * * * *
I presume it will bo among the early ob
jects of congress to recommence their
collection. This will be difficult while
the war continues. You know my col
lection , its condition , and extent. I
have been fifty years making it , and
have spared no pains , opportunity , or
expense , to make it what it is. While
residing in Paris , I devoted every after
noon I was disengaged for a summer or
two , iu examining all the principal book
stores , turning over every book with my
own hand' , and , putting by everything
which related to America , and , indeed ,
whatever was rare and valuable in every
science. Besides this I had standing
orders during the whole time I was in
Europe , in its principal book marts ,
principally Amsterdam , Frankfort , Ma
drid , and London , for such works relat
ing to America as could not bo found in
Paris. So that in that department par
ticularly , such a collection was made as
probably can never again bo effected ,
oecause it is hardly probable that the
same opportunities , the same time , in
dustry , perseverance , and -expense ,
with some knowledge of the bibliography
of the subject , would again happen to
be in concurrence. During the same
period , and after my return to America ,
I was led to procure also whatever re
lated to the duties of those in the high
concerns of the nation. So that the col
lection , which I suppose is between nine
and ten thousand volumes , while it in
cludes what is chiefly valuable in science
and literature generally , extends more
particularly to whatever belongs to the
i American : statesman. In the diplomatic
and parliamentary branches , it is par
ticularly full. It is long since I have
oeen sensible it ought not to continue
private property , and had provided that
at my death congress should have the
refusal of it at their own price. But the
loss they have now incurred makes the
present the proper moment for their
accouiodatiou , without regard to the
small remnant of time and the barren
use of iny enjoying it. I ask of your
friendship , therefore , to make for me
the tender of it to the library committee
of congress. I enclose you the cata
logue , which will enable thoui to judge
of its contents. * * * They
may enter into immediate use of it , as
eighteen or twenty wagons would place
it in Washington in a single trip of a
fortnight. * * * I do not
know that it contains any branch of
science which congress would wish to
exclude from their collection ; there is
in fact no subject to which a member of
congress may not have occasion to re
fer. "
Mr. Jefferson wrote three days later
to his friend Madison , then president :
' I have sent my catalogue * * *
to make the offer of my collection ,
which may bo delivered on a valuation
by persons of their own naming , to bo
paid for in any way , and at any term
thoj'- please ; in stock , for example , of
any loan. I have long been sensible
that niy library would bo an interesting
possession for the public , and the loss
congress has sustained and the dif
ficulty of replacing it , while our in
tercourse with Europe is so obstructed ,
render this the proper moment for
placing it at their service. "
A bill providing for the purchase of
the library passed the senate without
difficulty. In the house it met strong
opposition. Many federalists were
foolish enough to oppose it on slight pre
texts ; while not avowing partisan reas
ons , they alleged that Jefferson's col
lection was too philosophical , had too
many books in foreign languages , was
too costly , and was too large for the
wants of congress. Some members de
clared that many of the books were of
irreligious tendency , the works of Vol
taire being specially objected to.
Others thought the collection had too
much literature and too little history
and politics , while , in fact , the latter
were its strongest features. The debate
was long , amusing , and sometimes acri
monious , though not reported save in a
bare outline. The advocates of the li
brary insisted that so valuable a collec
tion , and so well suited to the uses of
congress , could not be found elsewhere ;
that exceptions taken against certain
books were no reason for rejecting it ,
since no collection was ever made to
some of which exceptions would not be
taken , from feeling or prejudice ; that
the cost was very moderate and on
terms of long credit ; and that the col
lection afforded a most admirable sub
stratum for a great national libraiy.
The purchase was finally authorised ,
January 26,1815 , by the close vote of 81 to
71 , and the sum of $25,950 ! was paid for
the Jefferson books , numbering when
delivered in Washington 0,479 volumes ,
rather more than double the size of the
Congressional * Library burned by the
British troops. President Madison su
pervised the arrangements for the re
ception of the books , which were
shipped in boxes , iinder care of a wagon
master , a hundred and twenty-five
miles , from Charlottesville , Va. , to the
capitol. Mr. Jefferson personally veri
fied the contents of each division of the
library by the catalogue , which ho had ar
ranged by subject-matters , and prepared
with his own hand an index of authors.
This catalogue , printed by congress in
1815 , in u quarto of 210 pages , is highly
curious , as exhibiting Jefferson's method
of classification , which ho based upon
Lord Bacon's division of knowledge.
The book bears the significant and ap
propriate title "Catalogue of the Library
of the United States , " no doubt pre
fixed by Jefferson himself , and , indeed ,
it appears from the terms employed in
the debate that the members of con
gress believed that they were founding
a national libraiy.
The collection , though overrated nu
merically by its owner ( as libraries
always are ) embraced what was for its