The books were part of Jefferson’s retirement library, so-called because he started the collection after donating 6,700 books to the Library of Congress in 1815. By the time of his death in 1826, Jefferson had already accumulated 1,600 books. According to the New York Times, he “cataloged all 1,600 books according to ‘the faculties of the human mind,’ like memory, reason and imagination.” Scholars are already poring over handwritten notes in the margins.
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