University of Virginia Library

INTRODUCTION[1]

In the spring of 1824, Thomas Jefferson, then eighty-one
years of age, began compiling the catalogue for the
library of the University of Virginia which is the basis
of this publication. The University, his long-cherished
dream, was fast becoming an actuality, and Jefferson as
Rector had gone so far as to announce publicly that his
"bantling of forty years' growth and nursing" would open
its doors to its first student body the following February.

Jefferson, who had been enjoying an extremely active
and fruitful retirement since his withdrawal from the "hated
occupation" of politics, was well qualified for this task.
From youth until extreme old age he had possessed almost
a "canine appetite for reading" and could say, without
exaggeration, "Books are indeed with me a necessary of
life." For over half a century he had been a tireless book
collector. He had gathered together a personal library described
by a contemporary as being for "its selection, rarity,
and intrinsic value . . . beyond all price."[2] And almost
until the day of his death he remained a collector. Characteristically,
the next to the last entry in his personal
account book records the payment for a recently-acquired
volume.

But Jefferson was more than a collector and reader
of books. Decades before beginning his catalogue for the
University of Virginia, he had carefully catalogued his private
library and had formulated a method of book classification
(based on subject matter rather than size or alphabetical

arrangement) successful enough to remain in use
at the Library of Congress and at the University of Virginia
for almost a century.

It must have been with a feeling of pleasure and
anticipation that the aged man began his labors, devoting
to his catalogue from four hours to the entire day for
many weeks. Yet the project proved to be onerous beyond
his expectations. By August of 1824 he was weary of the
task, "not yet in sight of the end," and asked aid from
his old friend ex-President Madison, who obliged him by
preparing the chapter on books of divinity.[3] By late September,
however, the work was completed, and on the
twenty-fourth of that month Jefferson had the pleasure of
sending Madison the catalogue of 6,860 volumes, "complete
except the alphabet," calculated to cost $24,076.

The whereabouts of this original manuscript is unknown;
it seems logical, however, to assume that it was
one of the casualties of the fire of October 27, 1895, which
destroyed more than two-thirds of the University of Virginia
collection. Fortunately, though, it is possible to reconstruct
with considerable accuracy its scope and contents
since it was described in an article written before
the fire[4] and because the University of Virginia possesses
a manuscript copy of it apparently differing from the original
only in minor and inconsequential details.[5]

The original manuscript, like all the catalogues which
Jefferson prepared, was based on Francis Bacon's system of
classifying knowledge into the three major divisions of
Memory, Reason, and Imagination.[6] These, subsequently,
Jefferson applied to History, Philosophy, and Fine Arts.
They, in turn, were subdivided into forty-two chapters. The
first major division, that of History, consisted of sixteen
chapters, one through five being classified as civil, and six
through sixteen as physical, history. Philosophy included
twelve chapters, subdivided as mathematical and moral
philosophy. Fine Arts contained thirteen chapters ranging
from architecture to criticism and philology. A forty-second
chapter, "polygraphical," completed the group. This method
of arranging his books according to subject rather than
to size appealed to him, Jefferson said, "because of the
peculiar satisfaction, when we wish to consider a particular
[field], of seeing at a glance the books which have been
written on it, and selecting those from which we effect most
readily the information we seek."[7]

Examination of any of Jefferson's catalogues makes
immediately apparent the fact that — and herein lies a
weakness in his plan — such an arrangement allows for
too large a number of vague, uncertain, or haphazard
classifications.[8] It is not remarkable that a library the size

of the Library of Congress should ultimately be forced to
abandon such a system. Rather, the striking point is that
the system, despite its limitations, was as efficient and as
practicable as it proved to be.

It was not until several months after Jefferson's death
that the Faculty of the University of Virginia instituted
plans for revising and printing his catalogue. William
Wertenbaker, who had succeeded the University's first librarian,
John V. Kean, was engaged to prepare the catalogue
for publication under the supervision of Professors Key and
Dunglison. His was not an easy task. The proposed publication
was intended to be an up-to-date catalogue of the
University of Virginia rather than a mere copy of Jefferson's
catalogue for the University of Virginia. At one time,
the Faculty moved that whenever possible the original
prices of the books be included; fulfilling this resolution
proved to be infeasible and it was later discarded. Bibliographical
data such as place and date of publication had
to be supplied. The Faculty resolved that the titles of books
in foreign languages be published in English "with suitable
contractions which language they belong to." A list
of the Library's donors had to be supplied, and all contributions
or acquisitions not appearing in Jefferson's manuscript
had to be included. The University's collection had
to be carefully checked to see which books originally specified
in Jefferson's catalogue had not as yet been obtained.
It is hardly to be wondered at that at one time the Chairman
of the Faculty moved to suspend temporarily the
whole project. The professors and the librarian persevered,
however, and early in 1828 the catalogue was ready for
the printer, and was published in the same year by Gilmer,
Davis, & Co., in Charlottesville.

In its printed form, this catalogue differs materially
from the manuscript. Jefferson's division into three main
classifications of History, Philosophy, and Fine Arts, though
inherent, has been formally discarded. The original forty-two
chapters are decreased to twenty-nine. The last chapter
in the printed catalogue, headed "Miscellaneous, Including
Poetry, Rhetoric, Education, etc.," takes the place
of chapters thirty-one through forty-two in the manuscript.

Similarly, other subjects are altered or expanded. For example,
in the manuscript, the field of medicine is relegated
to two chapters; in the printed form, these are expanded
to eleven chapters.

As revised for publication by William Wertenbaker,
each of these reorganized chapters is alphabetically arranged.
In Jefferson's manuscript, on the other hand, the
chapter arrangement was not alphabetical but was "sometimes
analytical, sometimes chronological, and sometimes
a combination of both." This rearrangement simplifies
the catalogue and makes it much more usable. Few people
would dispute Jefferson's own remark, made several
years earlier, "I think it possible that the alphabetical
arrangement may be more convenient to readers generally."

The printed and manuscript forms differ further in
the amount of bibliographical data accompanying each
entry. With minor exceptions, each item in the manuscript
— as is true of all of Jefferson's manuscript catalogues
— consisted of: name of author, last name first,
but not alphabetically arranged; title; number of volumes;
size of volumes; viz.:

In the printed form, however, each entry usually consists
of the following data: name of author, last name
first, alphabetically arranged; title; abbreviation of language,
if other than English, in which book is written;
plàce of publication; date of publication; number of volumes;
size of volumes; viz.:

Other differences exist. As recommended by the Faculty,
titles of foreign books are translated and printed in
English. A list of donors and their individual gifts is included,

and the titles, in addition, are incorporated in
the body of the catalogue. Occasionally, the catalogue is
cross-indexed, and a supplement as well as a sketchy subject-index
have been added. Finally, of course, not every
item listed in Jefferson's manuscript appears in the printed
version and, conversely, the latter contains frequent items
not appearing in the original.

Like Francis Bacon, whom he greatly admired,
Thomas Jefferson was an intellectual whose mind had
ranged widely and comprehended greatly. This catalogue
of the library of the University of Virginia serves to illuminate
our understanding both of the man and the
times in which he lived.