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Jefferson's Booklists
Q. In response to requests, Jefferson furnished lists of recommended books. Can you provide those lists?
There were at least four booklists that Jefferson furnished to various persons. These were:
(1) To Robert Skip, dated Aug. 3, 1771. This is a general collection of books for the educated person.
(2) To Peter Carr, dated Aug. 10, 1787. This is a general list, including history, poetry, science, religion, etc.
(3) To John Garland Jefferson, dated June 11, 1790. This is a list of books for one interested in reading for the study of the law.
(4) To John Norvell dated, June 14, 1807. This is a list of books "on the organization of society into civil government."All of the above are included in the Jefferson Gopher Site at the following URL:
gopher://gopher.vt.edu:10010/11/106 This gopher site contains Jefferson's addresses, the Autobiography, and a large selection of the letters. The letters file is a very large file -- something approaching 2 Mbytes.All four of the letters mentioned above are also available in the Library of America volume of Jefferson's Writings (Peterson, editor), which should be available in any public library.
In addition to the above, there is a short list of "Books on the subject of Juries" attached to the letter to L'Abbe Arnoud, July 19, 1789. (ME 7:422)
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The Jeffersonian Perspective:
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