Thomas Jefferson's 'Bibliomany'
What better way for bibliophiles to observe the Fourth of
July than to reflect a bit on the legendary passion the author of the
Declaration of Independence had for his books, and for the care he took not
only in selecting them, but in one amusing instance, expressing his regrets to
a hopeful bookseller trying to make a sale.
Thomas Jefferson's best known comment on the
subject--"I cannot live without books"--was confided in a letter to
John Adams in 1815, and has been celebrated on everything from coffee mugs to
T-shirts. (I used it myself fifteen years ago as one of four epigraphs for A
Gentle Madness.) But in another letter written four years
earlier Jefferson made clear that while books certainly were essential to his
sanity and well-being, he was not about to read everything that might come his
way.
Responding to a query submitted to him by his friend Thomas
Law to subscribe his name for a translation of a French atlas of the world then
in preparation,
"I am now entered on my 69th year. The tables of
mortality tell me I have 7 years to live. My bibliomany has possessed me of
perhaps 20,000 volumes. Of these there are probably 1000 which I would read,
of choice, before I should the historical, genealogical, chronological, &
geographical Atlas of M. Le Sage. But it is also probable I shall decamp before
I get through 50. of them,.Why then add an unit to the 19,950 which I shall
never read? To encourage the work?"
The full text of Jefferson's wonderful response has been
edited and published online by The Papers of Thomas Jefferson Retirement
Series, based in
Editor of the series is J. Jefferson Looney, who my wife and I
had the good fortune to meet a few weeks ago at the Horatio Alger Society
annual meeting. Jeff kindly sent this letter along, which I saved for use
today. He advises me too that this letter is previously unpublished, so it should
be of considerable interest to admirers of
So check out the Retirement Series site, it's great fun.
