The best books come used and may be tattered and stained, but often they also come annotated. Depending on the previous owner of the book, there might be additional gems of wisdom that you would miss if you bought new. One of the best examples of this are used textbooks. If you happen to ever be in a class where the teacher has not changed the curriculum in years, and you happen to own a well annotated textbook, studying becomes easier by spades: you can skim the book, only reading the highlighted sections, you can be prepared for essay prompts because the motifs have been discovered and analyzed by the previous owner, vocabulary words are not only circled but defined, etc.
What if on the other hand, you possessed a used book that wasn't some text book? What if you had a used, annotated book that had some higher significance? What if you owned the beloved, annotated book of some late genius, and you had a glimpse at their soul, and you too could develop your faculties to the same level of brilliance?
Take Thomas Jefferson. What if you could read what he was reading, with his notes and thoughts? Such a thing is possible. The Library of Congress houses a room, recreated to resemble Thomas Jefferson's library, full of his books. It was Thomas Jefferson's private books that did comprise much of the library at one point in it's early days:
"The book collections of the Library of Congress were reestablished, after their destruction in 1814, by the purchase of the private library of Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826). At the time of the purchase, Jefferson's collection contained 6,487 volumes in the fields of politics, history, science, law literature, fine arts, and philosophy and was recognized as one of the finest private libraries in the United States. While several members of Congress object that the collection "was too philosophical, had too many books in foreign languages, was too costly, and was too large for the wants of Congress," as Librarian of Congress Ainsworth Rand Spofford wrote many years later, the purchase was authorized on January 26, 1815, for the sum of $23,950. The Jefferson Library forms the nucleus around which the present collections of the Library of Congress have been assembled. For nearly a century the subject arrangement that Jefferson developed from Sir Francis Bacon's division of knowledge was used to organize the Library of Congress book collection. Jefferson's statement, "There is, in fact, no subject to which a member of Congress may not have occasion to refer," is still the guiding principle for Library acquititions.
a selection of Thomas Jefferson's books at:httwww.loc.gov/rr/rarebook/coll/130.html
What if on the other hand, you possessed a used book that wasn't some text book? What if you had a used, annotated book that had some higher significance? What if you owned the beloved, annotated book of some late genius, and you had a glimpse at their soul, and you too could develop your faculties to the same level of brilliance?
Take Thomas Jefferson. What if you could read what he was reading, with his notes and thoughts? Such a thing is possible. The Library of Congress houses a room, recreated to resemble Thomas Jefferson's library, full of his books. It was Thomas Jefferson's private books that did comprise much of the library at one point in it's early days:
"The book collections of the Library of Congress were reestablished, after their destruction in 1814, by the purchase of the private library of Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826). At the time of the purchase, Jefferson's collection contained 6,487 volumes in the fields of politics, history, science, law literature, fine arts, and philosophy and was recognized as one of the finest private libraries in the United States. While several members of Congress object that the collection "was too philosophical, had too many books in foreign languages, was too costly, and was too large for the wants of Congress," as Librarian of Congress Ainsworth Rand Spofford wrote many years later, the purchase was authorized on January 26, 1815, for the sum of $23,950. The Jefferson Library forms the nucleus around which the present collections of the Library of Congress have been assembled. For nearly a century the subject arrangement that Jefferson developed from Sir Francis Bacon's division of knowledge was used to organize the Library of Congress book collection. Jefferson's statement, "There is, in fact, no subject to which a member of Congress may not have occasion to refer," is still the guiding principle for Library acquititions.
While many of the Jefferson books were lost in the Library fire of 1851, the remaining volumes have been assembled as a unit in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division. Many books bear Jefferson's ownership markings as well as the original Library of Congress bookplates and classification. The contents of the entire 1815 purchase were reconstructed by E. Millicent Sowerby and described in a five volume set entitled which is now made available digitally." http://www.loc.gov/rr/rarebook/coll/130.html
To think that his books, along with a piece of his soul in annotation form is available to read is astounding, but rather inaccessible if you live a thousand miles away. Thankfully, such literature is available to the general public in an accessible form. Here is a link to an internet sight for the Rare Books and Special Collections Reading Room of the Library of Congress, which can be found a collection of PDF files fora selection of Thomas Jefferson's books at:httwww.loc.gov/rr/rarebook/coll/130.html
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