Thomas Jefferson: A Resource Guide

Selected Bibliography

Finding Books by and about Thomas Jefferson

The Library of Congress online catalog contains more than a hundred subject headings for books related to Thomas Jefferson. To find works on any of these topics, select Basic Search, and enter the words Jefferson, Thomas into the search box; then choose the Subject Browse option. You will get the list of Jefferson-related subject headings. Click on any heading to see a list of titles that have that subject heading; and click on any of the titles to access the book's bibliographic record.

From among the thousands of Jefferson-related titles in the Library of Congress collections, the bibliography below highlights the most significant editions of works by Jefferson and a limited selection of biographies and other works particularly useful to general and younger readers.

Selected Works by Jefferson

Adams, Dickinson W., and Ruth W. Lester, eds. Jefferson’s Extracts from the Gospels: "The Philosophy of Jesus" and "The Life and Morals of Jesus." With an introduction by Eugene R. Sheridan. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983.
LC Call Number: BS2549.J5 J43 1983 [Catalog Record]

Betts, Edwin Morris, ed. Thomas Jefferson's Farm Book, with Commentary and Relevant Extracts from Other Writings. 1953; rpt. Charlottesville: Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, 1999.
LC Call Number: S451.V8 J4 1999 [Catalog Record]

-----, and James Adam Bear Jr., eds. The Family Letters of Thomas Jefferson. 1966; rpt. Charlottesville: Published for the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation by the University Press of Virginia, 1986.
LC Call Number: E332 .86 1986 [Catalog Record]

Boyd, Julian P., et al, eds. The Papers of Thomas Jefferson. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1950-.
LC Call Number: E 302 .J442 1950a [Catalog Record]

Cappon, Lester J., ed. The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams. 1959; rpt. Chapel Hill: Published for the Institute of Early American History and Culture at Williamsburg, Virginia, by the University of North Carolina Press, 1988.
LC Call Number: E322 .A4 1988 [Catalog Record]

Ford, Paul Leicester, ed. The Works of Thomas Jefferson. 12 vols. New York; London: The Knickerbocker Press, 1904.
LC Call Number: E302 .J472 [Catalog Record]

Kimball, Fiske, ed. Thomas Jefferson: Architect. Original Designs in the Collection of Thomas Jefferson Coolidge, Junior, with an Essay and Notes by Fiske Kimball. Boston: Printed for Private Distribution at the Riverside Press, Cambridge, 1916.
LC Call Number: E332 .J48 (Rare Bk. Coll.) [Catalog Record]
Note: Portions of this work have been made available online by the Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities (IATH) at the University of Virginia.

Lipscomb, Andrew A., and Albert Ellery Bergh, eds. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson. 20 vols. Washington, D.C.: Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, 1905.
LC Call Number: E302 .J474 [Catalog Record]

Peterson, Merrill D., ed. Thomas Jefferson: Writings. New York: Library of America, 1984.
LC call number: E302 .J442 1984 [Catalog Record]

Smith, James Morton, ed. The Republic of Letters: The Correspondence between Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, 1776-1826. 3 vols. New York: Norton, 1995.
LC Call Number: E332.88 .M33 1995 [Catalog Record]

Selected Biographies of Jefferson

Appleby, Joyce. Thomas Jefferson. New York: Times Books, 2003.
LC Call Number: E332 .A67 2003 [Catalog Record]

Bernstein, Richard B. Thomas Jefferson. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
LC Call Number: E332 .B47 2003 [Catalog Record]

Burstein, Andrew. The Inner Jefferson: Portrait of a Grieving Optimist. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1995.
LC Call Number: E332 .B96 1995 [Catalog Record]

Cunningham, Noble E. In Pursuit of Reason: The Life of Thomas Jefferson. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1987.
LC Call Number: E332 .C95 1987 [Catalog Record]

Ellis, Joseph J. American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997.
LC Call Number: E332.2 .E45 1997 [Catalog Record]

Malone, Dumas. Jefferson and His Time. 6 vols. Boston: Little, Brown, 1948-81.
LC Call Number: E332 .M25 [Catalog Record]

Peterson, Merrill D. Thomas Jefferson and the New Nation: A Biography. New York: Oxford University Press, 1970.
LC Call Number: E332 .P45 [Catalog Record]

-----. Thomas Jefferson: A Reference Biography. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1986.
LC Call Number: E 332 .T43 1986 [Catalog Record]

Selected Works on Facets of Jefferson’s Life

Adams, William Howard. The Paris Years of Thomas Jefferson. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997.
LC Call Number: E332.45 .A32 1997 [Catalog Record]

-----, ed. The Eye of Th. Jefferson. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1976.
LC Call Number: E332.2 .E88 [Catalog Record]

Addis, Cameron. Jefferson's Vision for Education, 1760-1845. New York: Peter Lang, 2003
LC Call Number: LB695.J42 A33 2003 [Catalog Record]

Bailey, Jeremy D. Thomas Jefferson and Executive Power. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
LC Call Number: JK511 .B35 2007 [Catalog Record]

Bedini, Silvio A. Thomas Jefferson: Statesman of Science. New York: Macmillan, 1990. LC Call Number: E332.2 .B37 1990 [Catalog Record]

Burstein, Andrew. Jefferson's Secrets: Death and Desire at Monticello. New York: Basic Books, 2005.
LC Call Number: E332.2 .B858 2005 [Catalog Record]

Dewey, Frank L. Thomas Jefferson, Lawyer. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1986.
LC Call Number: KF363.J4 D48 1986 [Catalog Record]

Gordon-Reed, Annette. The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family. New York: W.W. Norton, 2008.
LC Call Number: E332.74 .G67 2008 [Catalog Record]

-----. Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1997.
LC Call Number: E332.2 .G67 1997 [Catalog Record]

Hayes, Kevin J. The Road to Monticello: The Life and Mind of Thomas Jefferson. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.
LC Call Number: E332.2 .H395 [Catalog Record]

Howard, Hugh. Thomas Jefferson, Architect: The Built Legacy of Our Third President. With photographs by Roger Straus III. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, 2003.
LC Call Number: E332.2 .H68 2003 [Catalog Record]

Jackson, Donald. Thomas Jefferson and the Stony Mountains: Exploring the West from Monticello. Rev. ed., with a foreword by James P. Ronda. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993.
LC Call Number: E332.2 .J32 1993 [Catalog Record]

Johnstone, Robert M., Jr. Jefferson and the Presidency: Leadership in the Young Republic. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1978.
LC Call Number: E331 .J69 [Catalog Record]

Lewis, Jan E., and Peter S. Onuf, eds. Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson: History, Memory, and Civic Culture. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1999.
LC Call Number: E332.2 .S24 1999 [Catalog Record]

Mayer, David N. The Constitutional Thought of Thomas Jefferson. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1994.
LC Call Number: E332.2 .M38 1994 [Catalog Record]

Miller, John Chester. The Wolf by the Ears: Thomas Jefferson and Slavery. 1977; rpt. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1991.
LC Call Number: E332.2 .M54 1991 [Catalog Record]

McLaughlin, Jack. Jefferson and Monticello: The Biography of a Builder. New York: H. Holt, 1988.
LC Call Number: E332.2 .M43 1988 [Catalog Record]

Nichols, Frederick Doveton, and Ralph E. Griswold. Thomas Jefferson, Landscape Architect. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1978.
LC Call Number: E332.2 .N53 [Catalog Record]

Onuf, Peter S. The Mind of Thomas Jefferson. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2007.
LC Call Number: E332.2 .O59 2007 [Catalog Record]

-----, ed. Jeffersonian Legacies. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1993.
LC Call Number: E332.2 .J48 1993 [Catalog Record]

Peterson, Merrill D. The Jefferson Image in the American Mind. 1960; rpt. Charlotteville: University Press of Virginia, 1998.
LC Call Number: E332.2 .P4 1998 [Catalog Record]

Sheldon, Garrett Ward. The Political Philosophy of Thomas Jefferson. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991.
LC Call Number: E332.2 .S54 1991 [Catalog Record]

Sowerby, E. Millicent, comp. Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson. 5 vols. Washington, D.C.: The Library of Congress, 1952-59.
LC Call Number: Z881 .U5 1952j [Catalog Record]
Note: This work has been made available online by the Rare Book and Special Collections Division of the Library of Congress.

Wallace, Anthony F. C. Jefferson and the Indians: The Tragic Fate of the First Americans. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1999.
LC Call Number: E93 .W18 1999 [Catalog Record]

Bibliographies

Guidas, John T, and Marilyn K. Parr, comps. The Presidents of the United States: The First Twenty Years. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1993.
LC Call Number: Z1239 .P74 1993 E310 [Catalog Record]

Parr, Marilyn K., comp. Thomas Jefferson: An American Man for All Seasons. Library of Congress.

Sayler, James, comp. Presidents of the United States--Their Written Measure: A Bibliography. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1996.
LC Call Number: Z1249.P7 S29 1996 [Catalog Record]

Shuffelton, Frank. Thomas Jefferson: November 3, 2008ritings about Him (1826-1980). New York: Garland Pub., 1983.
LC Call Number: Z8452 .S55 1983 E332 [Catalog Record]

-----. Thomas Jefferson, 1981-1990: An Annotated Bibliography. New York: Garland Pub., 1992.
LC Call Number: Z8452 .S54 1992 E332 [Catalog Record]
Note: Both Shuffelton bibliographies are available online, with thousands of additional annotations, from the University of Virginia Library.

Younger Readers

Bernstein, Richard B. Thomas Jefferson: The Revolution of Ideas. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
LC Call Number: E332.79 .B47 2004 [Catalog Record]

Blumberg, Rhoda. What's the Deal? Jefferson, Napoleon, and the Louisiana Purchase. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 1998.
LC Call Number: DC157 .B55 1998 [Catalog Record]

Bober, Natalie S. Thomas Jefferson: Draftsman of a Nation. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2007.
LC Call Number: E332.79 .B625 2007 [Catalog Record]

Ferris, Jeri. Thomas Jefferson: Father of Liberty. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books, 1998.
LC Call Number: E332.79 .F47 1998 [Catalog Record]

Harness, Cheryl. Thomas Jefferson. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2004.
LC Call Number: E332.79 .H375 2004 [Catalog Record]

Meltzer, Milton. Thomas Jefferson: The Revolutionary Aristocrat. New York: F. Watts, 1991.
LC Call Number: E332.79 .M45 1991 [Catalog Record]