rare books collection

Books From Thomas Jefferson's Personal Library Rediscovered

Filed under: Books

A long-sought group of books from Thomas Jefferson's personal library have been found. Washington University in St. Louis announced earlier this week that 74 books in its rare books collection were once part of Thomas Jefferson's personal library. The books were among about 3,000 that were donated to the school in 1880 after the death of Jefferson's granddaughter, Ellen Wayles Randolph Coolidge, and her husband, Joseph Coolidge. The discovery makes Washington University's archive the third-largest collection of Jefferson's books, after the Library of Congress and the University of Virginia.

Jefferson was an avid reader and a fervent notetaker. The copy of Plutarch's Lives in Greek shown above contains a scrap of paper with Greek notes scholars say were written by Thomas Jefferson. Some of the books contain his notes in the margins.

Tags: rare books, rare books collection, thomas jefferson