Jefferson Inventory
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.[1]
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.[2] 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,[3] 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.[4] 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.[5] 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
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
References
- ↑ George Wythe, Last Will and Testament with Codicil, June 11, 1806, Library of Congress, The Thomas Jefferson Papers.
- ↑ Jeremy Dibbell, "Mr. Wythe's books &c are packed up...," Object of the Month (blog), Massachusetts Historical Society (June 2009).
- ↑ Thomas Jefferson, 1783 Catalog of Books, c. 1775-1812, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, Massachusetts.
- ↑ Endrina Tay and Jeremy Dibbell, "Reconstructing a Lost Library: George Wythe's 'Legacie' to President Thomas Jefferson," Tales from the Vault, Common-Place (January 2009).
- ↑ This list was adapted from the "Library of George Wythe" in the Thomas Jefferson Libraries project on the website for Monticello. See: "Library of George Wythe," Thomas Jefferson Libraries, Monticello, accessed July 2, 2013. For the manuscript version, see "Inventory of the Books Received by Thomas Jefferson from the Estate of George Wythe, Circa September, 1806," Massachusetts Historical Society, accessed July 2, 2013.
- ↑ The parties reported are Peter Kamper (not Kampier) and Mary Hawkins. See Report of Kamper v. Hawkins.
