Thomas Jefferson was an avid reader

In addition to being a magnificent human being, Thomas Jefferson was a skilled reader and writer, that is one of the interesting facts about Thomas Jefferson. He developed one of the world's greatest personal libraries due to his obsession with reading. Jefferson loved reading and built up three libraries throughout his lifetime. The first, a 200-volume collection he had established when he was young and comprised both books left to him by George Wythe and those he had inherited from his father, was destroyed in a fire that gutted his Shadwell house in 1770. Nevertheless, by 1773 he had added 1,250 new titles to his collection, and by 1814 it had over 6,500 volumes. His extensive collection of books was arranged into three main groups that mirrored the three functions of the human mind: memory, reason, and imagination.


He sold this second library to the American government for $23,950 to help the Library of Congress collection get off the ground after the British destroyed it during the Burning of Washington. Jefferson paid off part of his substantial debt with a share of the proceeds from the sale, sending $10,500 to William Short and $4,870 to John Barnes of Georgetown. But shortly after, he started buying books again for his collection, telling John Adams, "I cannot live without books." He started building a new library of his picks, it contained about 2,000 books. Jefferson's library was auctioned at auction after his death, and the British government bought it. After some time, the collection was brought back to the country and used to establish the Library of Congress.


During his lifetime, Thomas Jefferson wrote a lot. He wrote several important documents, including the Declaration of Independence and the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, in addition to his numerous letters and speeches. Jefferson was a talented writer with a straightforward and lyrical writing style. He was highly renowned for his skill with irony and sarcasm, as well as his use of metaphors and similes. As a master of rhetoric, Jefferson regularly employed rhetorical strategies to strengthen his arguments. Because of his writing prowess, Jefferson's books have had an enduring influence on American political philosophy.

Books on shelves built according to Jefferson's specifications -- www.monticello.org
Books on shelves built according to Jefferson's specifications -- www.monticello.org
The Declaration of Independence -- www.aspeninstitute.org
The Declaration of Independence -- www.aspeninstitute.org

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