Jefferson, Thomas, Third President

Autograph letter signed ("Th: Jefferson"), 1 page (9 7/8 x 8 in.; 251 x 203 mm) on a bifolium of wove paper (watermarked dames | 1815), Monticello, 18 September 1816, to David Gelston (at New York), integral blank with autograph address with franking signature ("free | Th: Jefferson") and reception docket; seal tear with marginal loss, address panel foxed, short marginal separation at central fold. Half russet morocco folding-case, taupe morocco spine labels.

For Jefferson's 4 July 1815 letter of instruction to Ticknor, see Sigmund Diamond, "Some Jefferson Letters," in The Mississippi Valley Historical Review, vol. 28, no. 2 (1941): 234–37. See also Malone, The Sage of Monticello, chap. 13, "The Way of a Humanist"; Peden, Thomas Jefferson: Book-Collector (University of Virginia doctoral disseration, 1942); Long, Literary Pioneers (1935)

Jefferson awaits the delivery of the foundation volumes of his second, or retirement, library: "they are ... most necessary on parting with my library to Congress."

When, in the late summer of 1814, the British army overran the capital city of the United States and burned the fledgling Library of Congress, Thomas Jefferson wrote that "the vandalism of our enemy triumphed at Washington over science as well as the arts." Patriotism—coupled with financial exigency—prompted Jefferson to immediately offer to sell his own library to Congress as a replacement (it was, in fact, a vast improvement over the lost collection). After several months of sometimes rancorous partisan debate, Congress agreed in February 1815 to purchase 6,487 volumes from Jefferson for $23,950. The books were transported to Washington in their original shelves, which had been specially designed by Jefferson to double as packing cases.

Almost as soon as the last of ten wagonloads of his books was dispatched to the District of Columbia, Jefferson began making plans to collect another library. His memorandum books show that he received payment from Congress on 29 April 1815, and expenditures for books are recorded on 10 May, 5 July, 2 August, 5 August, 11 August and 28 October.

On 10 June 1815 Jefferson famously wrote to John Adams, "I cannot live without books, but fewer will suffice where amusement, and not use, is the only future object." Fewer books Jefferson may indeed have lived with, but still they were not few. His retirement library eventually numbered over a thousand volumes, containing relatively more works of history and classical authors and relatively fewer of contemporary law and political theory than the collection sold to Congress. In the present letter, he writes to David Gelston about his concens for the safe arrival of a shipment of books that he had been expecting from Europe. (Gelston was the Collector of the Port of New York, a post that President Jefferson has appointed him to 1801.)

"Your favor of Aug. 31. did not come to hand but by yesterday's mail, delayed I presume by the late extraordinary floods. it brings me the first notice of the arrival of my books which I have been 3. or 4. months expecting. but I have not yet received either invoice or letter. as we ought to suppose they came by the same ship, tomorrow's mail may perhaps bring them, in which case you shall have the invoice instantly. the day after tomorrow I shall set out on a journey of 3. weeks, which, if it arrives afterwards may occasion that delay in your receipt of it. in the meantime it may not be amiss that the books should remain with you till the equinoctial weather is over, as their loss would be a great affliction to me. they are what I wrote for as most necessary on parting with my library to Congress. I return the bill of lading & Hottinguer & co's letter and salute you with friendly esteem and respect."

The books that Jefferson was so concerned about about were likely obtained for him by George Ticknor, who Jefferson described to Adams as "the best bibliograph I have met." Since Ticknor was travelling to Europe, Jefferson had enlisted him to procure some of the books that he most needed back on his shelves. As a guide, Jefferson sent the young scholar an annotated catalogue from the bookseller Koenig's, as well as a specific list of desiderata that included works by Polybius, Aristophanes, Dugdale, Catesby, Hume, Milton, Johnson, Purchase, and Hakluyt.