Thomas Jefferson's Library

I love Thomas Jefferson's historic home, Monticello, and I often go check out their website and online catalog (I have a wish list a mile long).  When I visited Monticello in Charlottesville, Virginia with my family a couple years ago the library was one of my favorite rooms.  Check out an article about Jefferson's library on Monticello's website HERE.

Library at Monticello
Source:  www.monticello.org

Jefferson Bookstand
Source:  www.monticellocatalog.org

Among the many ingenious devices found in Jefferson's Cabinet, this one perhaps most clearly suggests Jefferson's passion for knowledge. One can imagine him turning the stand, completely engrossed, consulting five books at once to find the answer to a burning question. Our bookstand is a line-by-line reproduction of the original, which was made in the joinery at Monticello, probably from Jefferson's own design. It's great for cross-checking information from several sources or just keeping reference books and current reading handy. Made of solid mahogany with a soft, hand-polished finish, the rotating stand holds five books at adjustable angles on rests that fold down to form a 12" cube.  (Source:  www.monticellocatalog.org)

___________________________________________

I've had some very busy days lately with more to come over the next couple weeks.  My progress on The Southern Belles of Honeysuckle Way is slower than I'd like, but I am reading every day.  That's really all I can ask of myself.  Hoping to finish it tomorrow...

A Campeachy Chair In My Library

Reading Hissy Fit which is heavy on interior design, has made me really think about the first room I want to tackle in my own remodel.  We have a down stairs room that was my daughter's play room that is now empty except for the piano and my book shelf.  This room is going to be my library.

And in my library I would love to have two of these Campeachy Chairs I found at Monticello.org's Online Catalog.  I think this chair is absolutely beautiful and looks so comfy.  I think the wide arm rests would be perfect for reading.

Campeachy Chair
Source:  Monticello.org

It took Thomas Jefferson many letters and more than ten years to get a Campeachy chair sent from New Orleans. (The first one was lost in a shipwreck.) Once he finally received his chair in 1819, he had several copies made. This reproduction is based on a copy crafted by plantation joiner John Hemings, which is now on display in Monticello's parlor. Made of mahogany, it has the same X-shaped base, curvy arms and distinctive top rail. What makes the Campeachy chair so wonderfully comfortable is the sling seat of reinforced leather. The mahogany for the original chairs made in New Orleans came from the Mexican province of Campeche, hence the curious name. 39"h x 27"w x 24"d. Made to order in the U.S.A. from imported wood.  (Source:  Monticello.org)

It's Time To Do Some Inventory

Since I somehow missed "spring cleaning" all together this year.  I've decided to do a major fall cleaning, and in walking around the house to see what I wanted to tackle first I have noticed something about the rooms in my house.  There are books everywhere.  There are books stacked in my room.  There are books, neatly put away in her bookshelf in Sophia's room.  There are stacks of recently purchased books in the kitchen .  There are books on the shelves in the living room and in the foyer, books on my book shelf (which is quickly filling up, I'm all ready doubled up on some shelves). There is a huge box of very old books in my foyer closet that was given to me that I have yet to go through and find a home for.  I'm thinking these will get a new shelf all their own, and then there are books in storage that I've been meaning to get at for years. 

I do have quite a few books, but I rarely buy "new" books.  I shop at thrift stores, goodwill, yard sales, flea markets, antiques shops, used book stores, library book sales and ebay.  I rarely pay more than a dollar for any book.  I occasionally shop on amazon.com if I need or want a book that I can't find around here.  The only books I regularly buy new are my daughter's books as they are sometimes hard to find used.

So as part of my fall cleaning I am going to do an inventory of all the books in the house, and yes of course make a list.  I would eventually like to catalogue edition and date of publication, but that will have to wait for another time.  For now, I'm going to list title and author, and since I'm doing all this work anyway I thought I might as well blog about it.

I'm starting with the top shelf today which is mostly classics.  I have by no means read all of these books, but I hope to one day.  I may find out that several of them are over my head, but I'll give it a try anyway.  I'll put an asterisk in front of the titles I've read.

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (I've read a lot of Shakespeare but not all)
*Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
*One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
*The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
*All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren
*As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
The Sound in the Fury by William Faulkner
Light in August by William Faulkner
*The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
*The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee
*Immortal Poems: Edited by Oscar Williams
*King Soloman's Mines by Rider Haggard
*Allan Quatermain by Rider Haggard
*Heidi by Johanna Spyri
*The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles
The Marble Faun by Nathaniel Hawthorne
*The House of Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Ambassadors by Henry James
*The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
*The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
*Billy Bud by Herman Melville
*One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Cancer Ward by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
*Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
*Grand Ole Opry Picture History Book (This one's a bit out of place here, but it's on the top shelf)
*The Impressionists: Steven Adams (art book with lovely pictures!)
*Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
*The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Evangeline and other poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Adam Bede by George Eliot
The Thornbirds by Colleen McCullough
Paradise Lost & Paradise Revisited by John Milton
2001 a space odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
Candide, Zadig, and Selected Stories by Voltaire
The Divine Comedy Vol. 1 Inferno by Dante
A Collection of Critical Essays by D.H. Lawrence
*The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald
Idylls of the King by Alfred Lord Tennyson
*Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
The Tolkien Reader by J.R.R. Tolkien
Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand
The Politics of Experience by R.D. Lang
The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy
Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini
Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
St. Maur and the Man Who Died by D.H. Lawrence
Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
The American by Henry James
Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson
Hamlet by Shakespeare
As You Like It by Shakespeare
The Odyssey by Homer


So there's the top shelf (55 books).  More classics to come later!  I love having books around the house.  They just make me happy.

Here are a few quotes about books that I think go along with today's blog post...

Mark Twain
Source:  www.goodreads.com

"In a good bookroom you feel in some mysterious way that you are absorbing the wisdom contained in all the books through your skin, without even opening them."
— Mark Twain
(Source:  www.goodreads.com)

"Classic' - a book which people praise and don't read."
— Mark Twain
(Source:  www.goodreads.com)

Thomas Jefferson
Source:  www.goodreads.com

"I cannot live without books."
— Thomas Jefferson
(Source:  www.goodreads.com)

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

From the Declaration of Independence...

"We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."

Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, and it was approved by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.  He was the founder of the Democratic Party and became the 3rd president of the United States of America in 1801.

Thomas Jefferson
Source:  http://www.theamericanrevolution.org/

From A Guidebook Monticello

"The center of Thomas Jefferson's private world was Monticello, the house and 5,000-acre plantation which occupied his attention and imagination for more than fifty years  The exceptional house, ornamented by extensive gardens and surrounded by working farms, was designed entirely by Jefferson, who supervised it's construction and expansion from 1768 until virtually the end of his life."

A Guidebook Monticello
Source:  My Photo

I decided a few years ago that instead of buying just magnets and t-shirts as souvenirs of our trips, I would buy a book about the place as well.  I purchased the above book on a trip we took a few years ago to Thomas Jefferson's Home in Charlottesville, Virginia, Monticello.  It is one of my favorite trips we've ever taken.  After the guided tour of the house, we spent the day wandering the grounds gardens, and orchards on our own. It was absolutely beautiful!

The House at Monticello
Source:  My Photo

Source:  My Photo

Ronnie, Sophia, and Me in the orchard at Monticello
Source:  My Photo

This room was separate from the house, open air, and over looking the orchard.
This is one of my favorite pics.
Source:  My Photo

Gardens at Monticello
Source:  My Photo

Gardens at Monticello
Source:  My Photo

Gardens at Monticello
Source:  My Photo

Lavendar in the garden at Monticello
Source:  My Photo

Kale Pots in the garden at Monticello
Source:  My Photo

Sophia got to do some quill writing.  They had to line dry.
Hers is the one nearest the bottom of the photo.
Source:  My Photo

When I was thinking about this post this morning, I pulled out the little history book I bought many years ago.  I use it whenver I want to find out something about U.S. History.

Source:  My Photo



I'd like to thank all the the service men and women past and present for their sacrifices and bravery in defending our freedom.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY !!!