Thomas Jefferson Builds a Library

Thomas Jefferson Builds a Library — page 1 — For my sister Diane the librarian -BR Jefferson was born April 13 1743 on the Shadwell plantation into a family of slave owning planters in Virginia For my daughter Tess -JO'B

Thomas Jefferson Builds a Library — page 2 — Thomas Jefferson learned to read And then he never stopped He sat and he read He walked and he read And lying in bed instead of sleeping he read Books books books Stories and geographies Poems prayers and plays Tom gobbled books the way a starving man eats Before he turned six people said he'd read every book in his father's library

Thomas Jefferson Builds a Library — page 3 — 11 19 8 29 35 21 42 47 49 48 Jefferson's father had a library of forty nine books a great luxury in colonial times that included Salmon's State Trials Rapin's History of England and Anson's Voyage Round the World Family lore says that young Thomas read all his father's books before starting school 201 At school Tom learned to read Latin Amo libros I love books He learned to read French J'aime lire I love to read He learned his manners tripping through the minuet and bowing to the ladies blushing till his freckles disappeared

Thomas Jefferson Builds a Library — page 4 — 5 Tom rode hiked sang and played the fiddle but he loved reading best While at college he read fifteen hours a day Guess what he started collecting From about the age of fifteen Jefferson copied his favorite English Greek and Latin passages into his commonplace book

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