Thomas Jeffeson Trivia Tidbit

[Joseph]

I just learned something interesting the other night. I knew that Thomas Jefferson sold his personal library to the Library of Congress after the British burned the capitol and the collection in the War of 1812, but did you know the number of books he sold was 6,487?

For me to match that number, my personal library is going to have to grow ONLY 2,766 from its current 3,721. ;-) Any of you closer than that to matching Mr. Jefferson's collection? :-)

Proclaiming that "I cannot live without books," Jefferson began a second collection of several thousand books, which was sold at auction in 1829 to help satisfy his creditors. For more info go to http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson...

[Schnaucl]

You can also find out a lot of interesting things about his library (including which books were in it) here. I know it's Librarything, but I use both services and I think they compliment each other nicely.

[Kelli]

I went to Monticello a few years ago and salivated at the books from his personal collection that they had on display. No one else seemed to care, but it was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. :)

[LemonLinda]

A few months back the Library of Congress had part of Jefferson's private collection of books on special display. I am not sure if it is still there but it was quite intriguing.