Thomas Jefferson's Monticello [Hardcover]

William L. Beiswanger (Author), Peter J. Hatch (Author), Lucia Stanton (Author), Susan R. Stein (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1882886186 | ISBN-13: 978-1882886180 | Publication Date: December 5, 2001 | Edition: First Edition

Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's magnificent mountaintop home in Charlottesville, Virginia, has attracted public attention ever since Jefferson's day, when sightseers regularly visited the grounds in hopes of catching a glimpse of the former president. Today, each year more than half a million people from around the world visit Monticello, the only home in America on the United Nations' list of World Heritage Sites that must be protected at all costs.

Thomas Jefferson's Monticello is a superb collection of essays, adorned with beautiful color photography, that showcases this American treasure. Designed by Jefferson himself, Monticello is a model of elegance and symmetry. It is also home to Jefferson's world-class collection of art and porcelain from France, scientific instruments from England, the finest American furniture from Philadelphia and New York, and enduring furnishings made in Monticello's own joinery by enslaved craftsmen. The celebrated gardens and grounds form an experimental yet breathtakingly lovely landscape featuring flowers, fruits, and vegetables of the Old and New Worlds.

Featuring essays by Monticello's scholarly staff, this stunning book explores all aspects of Jefferson's home. A section on the plantation and the enslaved community at Monticello provides a larger context in which to place and understand the house, its activities, and its owner.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Many books have been devoted to Monticello; this stands with the best. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

This is a rare coffee-table book, not only handsome but full of worthwhile text and insights into the life and thinking of Jefferson as president, architect and Renaissance man. (Los Angeles Times)

This book takes us on a photographic and textual adventure into the spirit of Monticello and its architect, Thomas Jefferson. (Southern Living)

This beautiful book captures the home's aesthetic appeal, and the experts writing the text bring new information on the way Jefferson lived, studied, and created there. (Garry Wills, author of Lincoln at Gettysburg)

About the Author

William L. Beiswanger is Robert H. Smith Director of Restoration at Monticello and has overseen numerous landscape and building restoration projects there. He is a contributor to the National Trust books American Landscape Architecture and Master Builders, and the author of Monticello in Measured Drawings.

Director of Gardens and Grounds since 1977, Peter J. Hatch is responsible for the care, restoration, and interpretation of Jefferson's Monticello landscape. He is an authority on Jefferson's gardening interests and on the history of plants in American gardens. His most recent book is The Fruits and Fruit Trees of Monticello.

Lucia Stanton is Shannon Senior Research Historian at Monticello. The author or co-editor of various books on Jefferson, including Jefferson's Memorandum Books, Free Some Day: The African-American Families of Monticello, and Slavery at Monticello, she is currently involved in an oral history of the descendants of Jefferson's slaves, which is part of her research on the African-American families of Monticello and on the plantation at large.

Curator of Monticello since 1986, Susan R. Stein has responsibility for Thomas Jefferson's world-famous house and the wide variety of artifacts that relate to Jefferson's life on the mountain. She organized the landmark 1993 exhibition that commemorated the 250th anniversary of Jefferson's birth and produced the exhibition catalog The Worlds of Thomas Jefferson at Monticello.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press; First Edition edition (December 5, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1882886186
• ISBN-13: 978-1882886180
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 10 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #68,997 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #65 in Books > Travel > Reference & Tips > Tourist Destinations & Museums

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful guide to America's most interesting house, May 2, 2003

By 

Andrew S. Rogers (Stamford, Connecticut) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Thomas Jefferson's Monticello (Hardcover)

One of the clichés about Monticello is that few houses do so good a job revealing the personality of its builder. But clichés get to be such generally because there's truth to them, and that's definitely the case here. If Thomas Jefferson was one of the most interesting figures in American history (and I think that's unquestionably true), then Monticello may well be one of America's most interesting houses. And for this colorful book produced by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, we are guided through the house and grounds by people who know their stuff.

Specifically, the chapters of this title are written by Monticello's director of restoration, the curator, the director of gardens and grounds, and other experts associated with the Foundation. Large, colorful photos are accompanied by informed commentary and all the requisite history, as well as documentation of the decades of restoration work it has taken to get the house and grounds to its current condition. A book doesn't make up for a visit in person -- if anything, I wished for more photos of the interior, especially of the book room and "cabinet." But for a general overview of the house, grounds, and collection, and an insight into the man himself, this book is hard to beat. I recommend it as a souvenir, as well as a nice companion to a Jefferson biography.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptional, August 2, 2006

By 

Spencer Michael - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Thomas Jefferson's Monticello (Hardcover)

This is a highly informative, well documented book covering all aspects of the design and building of Thomas Jefferson's home, plus insights into why things were done the way they were done, through Jefferson's own notes, sketches and correspondence. Plus,the photographs are exquisite.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Look at a Great Home, January 9, 2007

By 

Jeffrey L. Mcconnell "Jeff Mc" (Arlington VT) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Thomas Jefferson's Monticello (Hardcover)

This work successfully links the many unique qualities of Thomas Jefferson's personality to the unique qualities of the home that he designed and spent most of his life building and rebuilding. All of the intriguing features of this home are covered.
Anyone interested in this remarkable man and his home who is unable to visit Monticello in person should strongly consider this work.