Jefferson's Memorandum Books. TWO VOLUMES [Hardcover]

Thomas Jefferson (Author), James A. Bear (Editor), Lucia Stanton (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0691047197 | ISBN-13: 978-0691047195 | Publication Date: July 7, 1997 | Edition: Edition Not Stated

Among the Second Series of The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, this volume has the most detailed coverage of his day-to-day life. These disciplined records of personal expenditures, and of various other daily observations, furnish valuable information about prices and availability of commodities of the period and provide abundant evidence of Jefferson's devotion to a systematic way of living and of his insatiable curiosity.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Now, at long last, Jefferson's incomparable daily records of his transactions and activities are gathered together, lucidly transcribed, and carefully annotated. The result is a resource rich in possibility for those who seek to understand the man and his world. -- Journal of Southern History

From the Publisher

Among the Second Series of The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, this volume has the most detailed coverage of his daytoday life. These disciplined records of personal expenditures, and of various other daily observations, furnish valuable information about prices and availability of commodities of the period and provide abundant evidence of Jefferson's devotion to a systematic way of living and of his insatiable curiosity.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1656 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press; Edition Not Stated edition (July 7, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691047197
• ISBN-13: 978-0691047195
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.5 x 3.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,812,014 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Thomas Jefferson was the third President of the United States (1801-1809), the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and one of the most influential Founding Fathers for his promotion of the ideals of republicanism in the United States. He envisioned America as the force behind a great "Empire of Liberty" that would promote republicanism and counter the imperialism of the British Empire.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Marvel of Editing!, October 30, 2000

By 

S. A. Kern (Williamsburg, Virginia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jefferson's Memorandum Books. TWO VOLUMES (Hardcover)

Jefferson's Memorandum Books are a marvel in themselves, but even more so with the editing work of Bear and Stanton. The Memorandum Books are transcribed to offer the reader Jefferson's records on money spent travelling from DC back to Monticello (p. 1094), the efficiency of one- vs. two-wheeled wheelbarrows (p. 282), or his early legal notations. But what makes this work invluable is the wealth of information that the editors have packed into the footnotes about everything from Jefferson's personal relationships at the time of an entry, to the location of a road or river he mentions, to whatever can be known about a slave paid for running an errand. To make the 1419 page (with footnotes) Jefferson document usable, the editors constructed a 203 page index to make the Memorandum Books as useful a tool as they could be. The scholarly apparatus here makes this publication a source for historians of just about anything, from the local to the national economy, slave life at Monticello and Virginia, the environment, and, of course, Thomas Jefferson. The only problem with the books is the price tag, which will inhibit many who don't have institutional support for their research tools.