(THOMAS JEFFERSON.) Catalogue of the Library of the United States. [8], 170, xxxii pages plus final blanks. 4to, contemporary paper-backed boards, worn, boards detached, lacking backstrip; free endpapers and title page detached and worn, otherwise just light toning and minor wear; early gift inscription on title page, library bookplate on front pastedown. Washington: Jonathan Elliot, 1815
The Library of Congress was created in 1800 and slowly built up its collections for the use of the House and Senate, until the bulk of their holdings were burned by the British in 1814. The following year, ex-president Thomas Jefferson sold his own extensive private library to the Library of Congress, giving the collection a fresh start. Offered here is the printed catalogue of the Library of Congress holdings, published shortly after the Jefferson infusion and following Jefferson's own idiosyncratic classification scheme. Its humble extent offers a striking contrast to today's holdings at one of the world's great libraries.
The books listed in this catalogue cannot fail to be of interest to the modern collector. The library's entire holdings in the American history section comprise just 78 titles plus runs of 12 newspapers (see pages 23-26), but this is hardly the extent of what we would now call "Americana." The "Philosophy" section includes several works on slavery and abolition, including Clarkson and Gregoire, alongside the works of Cicero and Epictetus (pages 55-59). The jurisprudence section includes the "Laws of Virginia"--in manuscript (page 73). The Federalist Papers appears under "Politics" (page 105), and Crevecoeur under American geography (page 121). The section on Orations leans toward the Greeks and Romans but also includes "Orations on the Massacre at Boston of March 5, 1770" (page 157). Appendices include a detailed index, and the laws, rules, and regulations relating to the Library of Congress.
Sabin 15564; Shaw & Shoemaker 36250. None traced at auction since 2005. Provenance: 1816 gift inscription from Joseph Hopkinson to the American Philosophical Society, noting that the library had been "purchased of Thomas Jefferson." Hopkinson, son of a Declaration of Independence signer, was at this time both a United States Representative for Pennsylvania and the Society's Vice President. The Society's bookplate and May 1941 "Dup" markings appear on the front pastedown and title page.
