Jefferson Inventory

George Wythe, Last Will and Testament with Codicil, June 11, 1806. Image from the The Thomas Jefferson Papers, Library of Congress.

Before his death, George Wythe bequeathed his books to his friend and former student, Thomas Jefferson:

I give my books and small philosophical apparatus to Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States of America: a legacie considered abstractlie, perhaps not deserving a place in his musaeum, but, estimated by my good will to him, the most valuable to him of any thing which I have the power to bestow.

Wythe's executor, William DuVal created an inventory before turning the collection over to George Jefferson, the president's cousin and agent, who received the items and sent the inventory to Washington, D.C. DuVal's inventory has not been found, but in 2008, while examining a manuscript book catalog which Jefferson kept from the late 1770s through 1812, Endrina Tay and Jeremy Dibbel, librarians from Monticello's Jefferson Library and the Massachusetts Historical Society, discovered a different inventory—one Thomas Jefferson composed as he decided what to do with individual titles from Wythe's Library. Jefferson divided the list into nine sections. Seven of these sections are headed by the name(s) of recipients, the other two—for Dabney Carr and Jefferson himself—have no headers.

Recipients of Wythe's Books

Jefferson gave away 183 titles to various family members, a joiner at Monticello, and his grandson's tutor. Click on each name below to learn more about the individual and see a list of the titles they received.

• Dabney Carr – 45 titles
  
• James Dinsmore – 7 titles
  
• John Wayles Eppes – 9 titles
  
• James Ogilvie – 2 titles
  
• Ann and Ellen Randolph – 9 titles
  
• Martha Jefferson Randolph – 1 title
  
• Thomas Jefferson Randolph – 72 titles
  
• Thomas Mann Randolph – 38 titles
  

Books Retained by Jefferson

Jefferson kept 149 titles for his own library. The list follows, and is subdivided into categories assigned by Jefferson. Click on the titles to learn more about the works.

Page six of Jefferson's inventory of books received from George Wythe's estate, September, 1806. This list indicates which volumes Jefferson intended to keep for himself. Courtesy of the Massachusetts Historical Society.

Page seven of Jefferson's inventory. Courtesy of the Massachusetts Historical Society

Page eight of Jefferson's inventory. Courtesy of the Massachusetts Historical Society

	[Th]ucydides Gr. Lat. notis variorum. Dukeri fol.
	Thucydides Eng. by Smith. 2.v. 4tto.
	Xenophontis Cyropaedia. Gr. Lat. Hutchinson. 4to.
	Bryant’s Mythology. 3.v. 4to.
	Sallust. Delph. 8vo.
	Aelianus Perizonii notis. 2.v. 8vo. [ed. Perizonii inserted with carat]
[Mo]drn [Histo]ry }	Blair’s Chronology. fol.
	Puffendorf’s introdn to the hist. of Europe 1st. v. 8vo.
[Eccles]astl.	Stackhouse’s history of the Bible. 5.v. 8vo.
[Agricu]ltre.	Auctores rei rusticate. Cato, Varro etc p. 8vo.
[Chemi]stry.	Dobson’s Commentary on fixed air. 8vo.
[H]is[t]	Plinii historia Naturalis. Varior. 3.v. 8vo.
	Goldsmith’s Animated Nature. 4.v. 8vo.
	Digges’s Stratioticos. 8vo.
	Description of Nairne’s electrical machine. 8vo
	Epicteti Manuel Gr. Lat. 4to.
	Theophrasti careteres. Gr. Lat. 12mo. Foulis
	Boetius de Consolationes. 12mo. Foulis.
	Minuciius Felicis Octavius. 12mo. Foulis
	Hume’s essays. 1st. vol. 8vo.
[Relig]ion	The Bible 4to.
	Novum testamentum. Gr. 8vo. Lond. 1728.
	do. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _   12mo. Lond. 1743. Bower
	do. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _  12mo. Lond. 1730. Tonson [ed. entry inserted later?]
	Testamentum vetus LXXII. et novum. 3.v. 12mo. Cantab. 1665.
	Hammond’s New testament. fol.
	Clarke’s Concordance. 12mo
	Liturgia Anglicana Gr. 12mo.
	do. _ _ _ _ _ _   Lat. 12mo.
	Mori opera. 2.v fol.
	Puffendorf de officio hominis et civis. Johnson 8vo.
	Carey’s reports in Chancery 16s.
	Reports in Chancery tempore Finch. fol.
	Vernon’s reports. 2.v. fol.
	Wythe’s Chancery decisions. fol. & 8vo.
[Commo]n law.	Cragii Jus feudale. fol.
	Glanvil. 12mo.
	Bracton. fol.
	Les tenures de Monsr. Littleton. p.f.
	Perkins’s treatise on the law of England. p.f.
	Coke on Littleton. fol. defective.
	Coke’s Institutes. 3.v. fol.
	Viner’s abr. F. to Y. inclus. 10.v. fol.
	Blackstone’s commentaries. 1st. & 4th. vols. 4to.
	Laws of the US. 4.v. 8vo.
	Laws of Virgā. various edns.
	Brownlow’s entries
	Clerk’s guide by Manly. 8vo.
	Brown’s Modus intrandi. 2.v. 8vo.
	Pigott’s conveyancing. fol.
	Brydall’s conveyancer. 8vo.
	[L]aw of bailments. 8vo.

	Trover. 8vo. [entry partially shaved]
	Plowden’s reports. French. fol
	do. _ _ _ _ _ _   English. fol.
	Croke’s rep. 3.v. fol.
	Siderfin’s   fol.
	Shower’s   2.v. fol.
	Levinz’s   2.v. fol.
	Andrews’   fol.
	Cases in L. & Eq. or 10th. Modern. fol.
	Report of the case of Kampier & Hawkins in the G.C. of Virga. 8vo.
	Washington’s reports. 2.v. 8vo.
	Call’s reports. 2.v. 8vo.
Law Ecclesl.	Nelson’s letters testamentary. 8vo.
Politics.	Xenophontis Hiero. sive de regno. 12mo. Foul. [ed. checkmark in pencil precedes entry]
	Proceedings of the Virginia convention
Mathematics.	Emerson’s Algebra. 8vo.
pure.	Simpson’s Algebra. 8vo.
	Rowlett’s tables. 4to.
	Masere’s principles of life annuities. 4to.
	Euclid by Simpson. 4to.
	Gibson’s surveying. 8vo.
	Treatise on gauging. 8vo.
Astronomy	Gadberry’s doctrine of nativities. p. fol.
Geography	Guthrie’s geography 2.v. 4to.
	Pinkerton’s geography. 2.v. 8vo.
	Sandy’s travels. fol.
	Notes on Virginia. 8vo. 2.copies.
	Atlas by Arrowsmith & Lewis 4to.
	Plans of forts in America 8vo.
Poetry - Epic.
Fine arts.
Architecture.	LeRoy’s Ruins of Athens. fol
Sculpture	Spence’s Polymetis. fol.
Poetry. Epic.	Homeri Ilias et Odyssea. Barnes. 2.v. 4to.
	Homeri Odysseus. Gr. Oxon. 8vo.
	Virgil. 12mo.
	Dryden’s Virgil. 3.v. 12mo.
	Milton’s Paradise lost & regained. Baskerville. 2.v. 8[vo]
	Ossian. 2.v. 8vo.
	Statius. varior. 8vo.
Romance.	Ovidii Metamorphoseon. Delph. 8vo.
	Constantia Philips. 2d. & 3d. v. 12mo.
Tragedy.	Francklin’s Sophocles. 2.v. in 1. 4to.
	Aeschylus. Gr. Lat. 2.v. p. 4to. Foul.
	Euripidis Medea et Phoenissae. Gr. Lat. Piers. cum scholii
	Euripedes
	Potter’s Euripides. 2.v. 4to.
	Joddrell’s illustrations of Euripides. 8vo.
	Shakespear by Johnson & Steevens with the Supplement 12.v.
	[ed. possible additional entry at foot]

	[Plautus] notis varior. 2.v. 8vo.
[?]	Fawkes’s Theocritus. 8vo.
	Bion et Moschus. Gr. Lat. notis Heskin. 8vo.
	Virgilii Bucolica Rami. 12mo.
	Callimachus. Gr. fol. Foul.
	Tyrtaeus. Gr. Lat. 4to. Foul.
	Anacreon, Sappho, et Alcaeus. Gr. Lat. 12mo.
	Anacreon. Gr. Forster. 12mo.
	Moore’s Anacreon. p. 8vo.
	Tibullus et Propertius. 12mo. Foul.
	Vida. 12mo.
	Musae Anglicanae. 3.v. 12mo.
	Cowley’s works. fol.
	Psalterion. Gr. Lat. 12mo.
[Dialo]gue.	Luciani opera. Gr. Lat. Gesneri. sholiis et notis 3.v. 4to. Amst. 1743.
[Didac]tic.	Lucretius. Lond. Tonson. 1712. 4to.
	do. _ _ _ _  Tanaquil Fabri. 12mo.
	Hurd’s Horace. 2.v. 12mo.
	Petronius. notis varior. 8vo.
	Swift’s works. 13.v. 12mo.
	Praedium Rusticum.
	Pursuits of Literature. 8vo.
	Hudibras. p.f.
	Plinii epistolae. 12mo.
[Orat]ory.	Artis Logicae. Aldrich. 12mo.
	Demetrius Phalereus de elocutione. Gr. Lat. Foulis. 8vo.
	Cambray on eloquence. 12mo.
	Demosthenis orationes selectae. Mounteney. 8vo.
	Oeuvres de Demosthene & do Eschine par Auger. Fr. 5.v. 8vo.
	Discours de Lycurgue, d’Andocide etc par Auger. Fr. 8vo.
	Isocrate d’Auger. 3.v. 8vo.
[Critici]sm.	Greek grammar of Gloucester. 8vo.
	Basilii Fabri thesaurus eruditionis Scholasticae. fol. [ed. entry inserted later?]
	Thesaurus linguae Latinae Cowper. fol.
	Littleton’s Latin dict. Lat. Eng. 4to.
	Ainsworth’s dict. Lat. Eng. abridged. 8vo.
	Gradus ad Parnsassum. 12mo.
	Ash’s Introduction to Lowthe’s grammar. 12mo.
	Walker’s dictionary. 8vo.
	Harris’s Philological enquiries. 8vo.
	Blackwell’s sacred classics. 2.v. 12mo.
	Lowth de Poesi Hebraeorum. 8vo.
	Longinus. Gr. Lat. Tollii 4to.
	Claesse’s Mohawk liturgy. p. 4to.
[Polygra]phic.	American Encyclopedia. 18.v. 4to.
	Erasmi Adagiorum epitome. p.f.
	Bacon’s advancement of learning. p. fol. Eng.

See also

• Ann Cary Randolph Bankhead
• Dabney Carr
• Ellen Wayles Randolph Coolidge
• James Dinsmore
• John Wayles Eppes
• Last Will and Testament
• James Ogilvie
• Martha Jefferson Randolph
• Thomas Jefferson Randolph
• Thomas Mann Randolph