Five presidents who were readers of the free world
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gm_1787 at Five presidents who were readers of the free world
gm_1787 at Five presidents who were readers of the free world Which of our presidents have been the most ardent readers and bibliophiles? A bookstore I frequent (The Printed Page in Denver, Colorado) asked me about which three presidents were the biggest bibliophiles. Coming up with an answer was a challenge, given that at least half of our presidents have been bibliophiles, according to a study by Harold Evans, an author and former president of Random House. But I wasn't deterred - submitting five in return. Here's my list of our top five bibliophilic presidents (as written by The Printed Page).
1. Thomas Jefferson. Throughout his life, books were vital to Jefferson's education and well-being. When his family home Shadwell burned in 1770, Jefferson most lamented the loss of his books. In the midst of the American Revolution and while United States minister to France in the 1780s, Jefferson acquired thousands of books for his library at Monticello. By 1814 when the British burned the nation's Capitol and the Library of Congress, Jefferson had acquired the largest personal collection of books in the U.S. He offered to sell his library to Congress as a replacement for the collection the British destroyed. Congress purchased Jefferson's library for $23,950 in 1815 (about $282,000 in today's dollars). A second fire on Christmas Eve 1851 destroyed nearly two-thirds of the 6,487 volumes Congress had purchased from Jefferson. "I cannot live without books," Jefferson said. He confessed to "a canine appetite for reading." Three years after Jefferson died, his heirs sold off another 1,600 volumes he had collected to pay off his debts.
2. Millard Fillmore. Fillmore had about 4,000 volumes in his library. Although his hands were full trying to reconcile North and South over slavery, his passion for books led to the establishment of the White House library. When he took up residence in 1850, not a single book was to be found in the White House.
3. Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Many doubt that FDR read half the 15,000 volumes he acquired (his biographer found many volumes with uncut pages). Eleanor suspected him of skipping among the books he read, but said, "I was never able to catch him having overlooked anything in a book I had read very carefully and rather slowly." FDR frequented second-hand bookshops for naval and political histories. He owned all of Rudyard Kipling and also read Lewis Carroll, Hawthorne, Longfellow and Tennyson. He loved reading detective stories before bed.
4. Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt wrote more books (45) than some latter-day presidents have ever read. And he was known to be able to read several books in a single day. His reading of Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan's "Sea Power" fueled his imperial passions, and the naturalists John James Audubon and Spencer Fullerton Baird hardened his determination to resist the ravagers of America's natural beauties.
5. James Abram Garfield. Garfield was close friends with Ainsworth Rand Spofford, librarian of Congress. Spofford marveled at how Garfield managed to keep "abreast of current literature, allowing no good book to escape him." When Spofford received a box of books from New York or Europe, he would send word to Garfield so he could have the first look. When he was elected President, Garfield bemoaned the fact that he would be separated from his library in Ohio. His favorite book? "Robinson Crusoe." After his death, his wife, Lucretia, added more space to the family home to hold a library built up and dedicated to her husband. Some historians trace the modern presidential library system to her initiative.
(Sources: The White House Book Club (New York Times) by Harold Evans and "Destiny of the Republic" by Candice Millard.)
1. Thomas Jefferson. Throughout his life, books were vital to Jefferson's education and well-being. When his family home Shadwell burned in 1770, Jefferson most lamented the loss of his books. In the midst of the American Revolution and while United States minister to France in the 1780s, Jefferson acquired thousands of books for his library at Monticello. By 1814 when the British burned the nation's Capitol and the Library of Congress, Jefferson had acquired the largest personal collection of books in the U.S. He offered to sell his library to Congress as a replacement for the collection the British destroyed. Congress purchased Jefferson's library for $23,950 in 1815 (about $282,000 in today's dollars). A second fire on Christmas Eve 1851 destroyed nearly two-thirds of the 6,487 volumes Congress had purchased from Jefferson. "I cannot live without books," Jefferson said. He confessed to "a canine appetite for reading." Three years after Jefferson died, his heirs sold off another 1,600 volumes he had collected to pay off his debts.
2. Millard Fillmore. Fillmore had about 4,000 volumes in his library. Although his hands were full trying to reconcile North and South over slavery, his passion for books led to the establishment of the White House library. When he took up residence in 1850, not a single book was to be found in the White House.
3. Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Many doubt that FDR read half the 15,000 volumes he acquired (his biographer found many volumes with uncut pages). Eleanor suspected him of skipping among the books he read, but said, "I was never able to catch him having overlooked anything in a book I had read very carefully and rather slowly." FDR frequented second-hand bookshops for naval and political histories. He owned all of Rudyard Kipling and also read Lewis Carroll, Hawthorne, Longfellow and Tennyson. He loved reading detective stories before bed.
4. Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt wrote more books (45) than some latter-day presidents have ever read. And he was known to be able to read several books in a single day. His reading of Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan's "Sea Power" fueled his imperial passions, and the naturalists John James Audubon and Spencer Fullerton Baird hardened his determination to resist the ravagers of America's natural beauties.
5. James Abram Garfield. Garfield was close friends with Ainsworth Rand Spofford, librarian of Congress. Spofford marveled at how Garfield managed to keep "abreast of current literature, allowing no good book to escape him." When Spofford received a box of books from New York or Europe, he would send word to Garfield so he could have the first look. When he was elected President, Garfield bemoaned the fact that he would be separated from his library in Ohio. His favorite book? "Robinson Crusoe." After his death, his wife, Lucretia, added more space to the family home to hold a library built up and dedicated to her husband. Some historians trace the modern presidential library system to her initiative.
(Sources: The White House Book Club (New York Times) by Harold Evans and "Destiny of the Republic" by Candice Millard.)