In 1771 Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to a man by the
name of Robert Skipwith, and included what can only be called a guidebook on
how to become a Renaissance Man.
Contained within, but written as a separate enclosure, was a lengthy
list of books, presumably volumes that Jefferson already had on his personal
book presses. Today, the letter and the
list are contained in different archives, but are extant and give a glimpse of
what was read, referenced, owned and recommended in Colonial America…
I have tried with almost complete success to find original
contemporary digital scans of all the books contained on Jefferson’s
recommended reading list. A few of the
books are later or earlier editions…but I tried to keep this collection as
close to the year 1771 as I possibly could.
There were only a few titles that I could not find… A Compendium of Physic & Surgery was
unavailable except as a reprint from Amazon, so I found something comparable,
but not exact. The first volume of "Thompson’s Travels" is missing as well, but again, can be purchased online as a
reprint…
I find Jefferson’s recommended list of books to be intriguing. If he himself read all these works and more
(and he probably did), that alone was an educational achievement…not to mention
the rest of his accomplishments. Enjoy!
A transcription of the letter and reading list enclosure can be read here… To Robert Skipwith, with a list of Books for a Private Library
A digital scan of the “list of Books” can be found at the New York Public Library’s website as this institution holds that part of the document.
FINE ARTS
Pope’s Iliad
Pope’s Odyssey
Dryden’s Virgil
Hoole’s Tasso
Ossian with Blair’s criticisms
Telemachus by Dodsley
Capell’s Shakespear
Dryden’s plays
Addison’s plays
Otway’s plays
Rowe’s works
Thompson’s works
Young’s works
Terence
Moliere
Farquhar’s plays
Vanbrugh’s plays
Congreve’s works
Garric’s dramatic works
Foote’s dramatic works
Rousseau’s Eloisa
Rousseau’s Emilius and Sophia
Marmontel’s moral tales
Gil Blas
Don Quixot
David Simple
Roderic Random
Peregrine Pickle
Launcelot
Adventures of a guinea
Pamela
Clarissa
Grandison
Fool of quality
Feilding’s works
Constantia
Belle assemblee
Vicar of Wakefeild
Sidney Bidulph
Lady Julia Mandeville
Almoran and Hamet
Tristam Shandy
Sentimental journey
Percy’s reliques of antient English poetry
Percy’s Han Kiou Chouan
Percy’s Miscellaneous Chinese pieces
Chaucer
Spencer
Waller’s poems
Dodsley’s collection of poems
Pearch’s collection of poems
Ogilvie’s poems
Gay’s works
Shenstone’s works
Dryden’s works
Pope’s works
Churchill’s poems
Hudibrass
Swift’s works
Swift’s literary correspondence
Spectator
Tatler
Guardian
CRITICISM ON THE FINE
ARTS
Ld. Kaim’s elements of criticism
Johnson’s dictionary
POLITICKS, TRADE
Montesquieu’s spirit of laws
Ld. Bolingbroke’s political works
Steuart’s Political oeconomy
RELIGION
Locke’s conduct of the mind in search of truth
Epictetus by Mrs. Carter
Ld. Bolingbroke’s Philosophical works
Hume’s essays
Sterne’s sermons
LAW
Blackstone’s Commentaries
Cunningham’s Law dictionary
HISTORY. ANTIENT.
Rollin’s Antient history
Stanyan’s Graecian history
Livy. (the late translation)
Tacitus by Gordon
Josephus
Vertot’s Revolutions of Rome
Plutarch’s lives by Langhorne
Bayle’s Dictionary
HISTORY. MODERN.
Robertson’s History of Charles the Vth
Davila by Farneworth
Hume’s history of England
Clarendon’s history of the rebellion
Robertson’s history of Scotland
NATURAL PHILOSOPHY.
NATURAL HISTORY &C.
Nature displayed. Eng.
Macqueers’s elements of Chemistry
Millar’s Gardener’s dict.
Buffon’s natural history. Eng.
A compendium of Physic & Surgery. Nourse
Thompson’s travels
Vol. I
Lady M. W. Montague’s letters
MISCELLANEOUS
Voltaire’s works
Owen’s Dict. of arts & sciences