Browsing the polymath’s shelves
Thomas Jefferson, an avid lover of books, amassed one of the largest libraries in the early American republic, a collection of 6,700 volumes. Jefferson sold his library to the U.S. government in 1815, and the Library of Congress was born. At that time, he asked his private secretary Nicholas P. Trist to prepare a catalog of his library that lists the books in the exact order in which Jefferson himself had arranged them. This handwritten manuscript was also deposited in the Library of Congress, but no one discovered it until the 1980s. In 1989, the Library of Congress published the Trist manuscript in the book Thomas Jefferson’s Library: A Catalog with the Entries in His Own Order. The Library of Congress has an html version of this book on its website, and a scanned copy can be downloaded for free from HathiTrust.
As one would expect from Jefferson’s polymathic pursuits as statesman, lawyer, diplomat, architect, scientist, philosopher, and farmer, his library covers a wide breadth of knowledge. Using a method proposed by Francis Bacon in his book The Advancement of Learning, Jefferson divided his books into three main kingdoms: Memory (history, including natural history), Reason (philosophy, law, and mathematics), and Imagination (fine arts and literature). These main headings are further divided into multiple categories and subcategories. Not surprisingly, the sections on law and government are the most extensive, but Jefferson’s collections of history, geography, and natural history are also well developed. Though a slaveholder, Jefferson owned at least a dozen books on slavery, the titles of which indicate an unmanifested philosophical leaning towards abolition. Besides the ancient scholars of Greece and Rome, Jefferson’s catalog contains the familiar names of many of his intellectual contemporaries and philosophical predecessors: Franklin, Adams, Humboldt, Linnaeus, Darwin (Erasmus, not Charles), Locke, Kant, Rousseau, Voltaire. It is fascinating to browse through the list and see what this Enlightenment genius had on his mind.
After purchasing the collection in 1915, the Library of Congress altered Jefferson’s catalog, retaining his original categories but listing the books within those categories in alphabetical order. This was obviously done to make the books easier to find, but Jefferson wasn’t happy about it. The editors stress that what makes this volume important is that it lists Jefferson’s books in the exact order he intended. Depending on which of Jefferson’s categories the books fall under, the volumes might be ordered chronologically, thematically, by nationality of origin, or from the general to the specific. By reading Jefferson’s original catalog, the editors insist, one gets an understanding of how Jefferson classified information, and therefore “a blueprint of his own mind.” For me, knowing what books Jefferson owned and read is far more important than knowing what order he put them in. His original shelving pattern is interesting but not essential.
Jefferson, being intimately familiar with his own library, only noted each book with a one-line description of its title, author, language, size, shelf location, and sometimes date. Such scant description will leave bibliophiles wanting more information. Fortunately, those curious for more information on each entry can consult the annotated bibliography Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson compiled by E. Millicent Sowerby. It was published by the Library of Congress in 1952 as five volumes, scanned copies of which can be read and downloaded for free from HathiTrust.
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The future president as scientist and statesman
During his lifetime, Thomas Jefferson wrote enough documents, papers, letters, and addresses to fill many volumes, but he only published one full-length book. Notes on the State of Virginia was first printed in a limited edition in 1785 and then published for the American public in 1787. Jefferson wrote the book after the Declaration of Independence but before the completion of the U.S. Constitution, at a time when America was engaged in the Revolutionary War with Britain and the colonies were governed by the Articles of Confederation (an early form of American government at which Jefferson levels some criticism). In response to inquiries from a French diplomat, Jefferson penned the work in the form of 23 questions and their answers. While Jefferson writes mostly on the specifics of his home state, he does broaden his scope to encompass the American colonies as a whole, thus leaving behind a valuable document of the colonial era.
Prussian scientist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt was a great admirer of Jefferson and of Notes on the State of Virginia in particular. The reason for this is because Jefferson approaches his study of Virginia very much as an explorer or scientist would. This book is almost a prototype for what geographers today refer to as “area studies.” It would be hard to imagine any of today’s state politicians possessing the encyclopedic knowledge of their state that Jefferson displays here. His thorough examination of Virginia reveals Jefferson the polymath or Renaissance man who possesses a boundless curiosity in numerous disciplines. He recites in detail the breadth and depth of every river mouth, the navigability of rapids, the productivity of mines, the most successful species of crops and breeds of livestock, and the geographical distribution of mammoth fossils. He presents tables of self-gathered climate data, calculates population demographics, catalogs all of America’s known mammals and birds, and outlines a geographic history of all the Native American tribes east of the Mississippi. He even compiles a bibliography of historical texts on the exploration and founding of America, ranging from Newfoundland to Jamaica.
Of course, as one would expect from the future president, Jefferson also includes plenty of political philosophy and law. Slavery and Indian relations are two topics much discussed. Jefferson meanders from an explanation of homestead laws to a discussion of slaves as property and then to a comparison of racial characteristics among whites, blacks, and Indians. Some of the opinions expressed on race are certainly not politically correct by today’s standards, but for his time white Southern males didn’t get much more liberal than Jefferson. In several passages he advocates for Indian rights and the abolition of slavery, though the historical record shows on the latter issue he didn’t really put his money where his mouth was. He was sympathetic to the plight of slaves and Indigenous peoples, but he saw them as children who needed to be guided by a white hand. He equivocally talks about emancipation and racial equality as indefinite long-term goals.
As appendices, Jefferson provides an outline of the Virginia state constitution, as well as an act establishing religious freedom in the state of Virginia. Editions after 1800 also include an appendix of conflicting legal depositions pertaining to an Indian massacre Jefferson discusses in the text, which is quite tragic. Notes on the State of Virginia does have some boring and antiquated passages, but it is loaded with interesting historical detail, even for those who aren’t specifically interested in Virginia. This book really gives the reader a fascinating look inside the mind of Jefferson and also provides a multifaceted glimpse into colonial life in an America on the verge of independence.
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The epic bromance of two Enlightenment geniuses
In her 2014 book Humboldt and Jefferson, historian Sandra Rebok analyzes the complex relationship between two intellectual titans of the Enlightenment. The one time that Alexander von Humboldt and Thomas Jefferson met, in Washington in 1804, no one was there to take notes, so what exactly they talked about is unknown, but hints of that conversation exist in their writings. Their extant correspondence only amounts to 14 letters (included as an appendix in this book), but the two also mentioned each other in diaries, letters to others, and in a few published writings. That’s not a lot of concrete evidence from which to draw conclusions about their friendship, but Rebok gleans much engaging food for thought from the scant surviving record. By examining their writings, Rebok not only reconstructs the relationship between Humboldt and Jefferson but also compares and contrasts their personal views on a variety of issues that were important to them both, while analyzing how each may have influenced the other’s point of view.
The subject to which Rebok devotes the most consideration is that of slavery. Humboldt was a staunch abolitionist who believed in freedom and equality for men of all races, while Jefferson, a slaveholder, had a more pragmatic, paternalistic approach to slavery that has not done his historical memory any favors. In a related chapter, Rebok focuses on the two men’s responses to the Haitian Revolution, in which blacks overthrew their colonial masters and established their own independent government. Also covered are the pair’s contributions to natural history, their defense of the Americas against European critics, and the degree to which each embraced and propagated Enlightenment values. Rebok’s thoughtful and well-researched discussions of such topics reveal much about each man’s character, personality, and philosophy. The theses that Rebok argues in this book—that the two men shared a mutual admiration, that their personal views were shaped by their experience of transatlantic travel, that they influenced one another’s thought, that they established a transatlantic network of scholarly colleagues, that they shared philosophical common ground—are not particularly surprising, but the wealth of information with which the author defends these assertions and fleshes out the narrative of these two men’s lives is really quite fascinating.
This book is more likely to appeal to fans of Humboldt than to those of Jefferson. Humboldt is Rebok’s primary research interest, so he is covered more extensively than his American counterpart. Nevertheless, one thing I enjoyed very much about this book is that Rebok, as did Humboldt, looks at Jefferson more as a scientist than a politician. The book does touch on political issues, the most obvious being slavery, but one really learns a lot of interesting facts about Jefferson’s research achievements in various branches of the sciences. This book is written for a scholarly audience, not the general reader. Not everyone in the latter category is likely to be interested in some of the academic directions in which Rebok pursues her study, such as the history of the science of ecology and the influence of Bernhard Varenius on the two men’s scientific careers, but there is much fascinating content here for nonacademics (like myself) who are receptive to it.
Andrea Wulf’s book The Invention of Nature provides probably the best overall introduction on Humboldt for general readers. That book does contain one chapter on Humboldt’s relationship to Jefferson, but those eager for more detailed information on the interaction between these two stellar luminaries of the Enlightenment will be well served by Rebok’s Humboldt and Jefferson.
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