A fire at Shadwell, the estate belonging to Thomas Jefferson's parents, destroys Jefferson's earliest library, comprised of books he assembled during his education, legal training, and early career.

Within a manuscript volume, Jefferson creates a working list of his library and writes the titles of books he owned and tracked books he wished to purchase.

This 246-page manuscript volume, "1783 Catalog of Books," is part of the Coolidge Collection of Thomas Jefferson Manuscripts, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, Massachusetts. Digital images are available within this website, 1783 Catalog of Books.

On page 5 of the "1783 Catalog of Books", Jefferson states that he owns 2,640 books.

Jefferson assembles a small unbound manuscript catalog, 50 pages, apparently of books that he wants to purchase.

This manuscript volume, "1789 Catalog of Books" is part of the Coolidge Collection of Thomas Jefferson Manuscripts, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, Massachusetts. Digital images are available within this website, 1789 Catalog of Books.

Jefferson creates a handwritten copy of his library catalog. (This is the catalog that Jefferson sends to Samuel H. Smith on September 21, 1814.)

Jefferson sends the manuscript catalog he created circa 1812 along with a letter to Samuel H. Smith, who had agreed to arrange for the sale of Jefferson's personal library to the Library of Congress. (Earlier in the year, Jefferson decided to make this offer after he learned the Library of Congress was destroyed when the British army burned the Capitol building.)

It is believed that George Watterston retained the original handwritten catalog after he left his position as Librarian of Congress in 1829; the current location of the manuscript catalog is unknown.

In January, Congress approves the purchase of Jefferson's library. Jefferson arranges for his library to be packed and shipped, and in May the books arrive in Washington D.C.

George Watterston, the Librarian of Congress, arranges the publication of Catalogue of the Library of the United States: To Which is Annexed, a Copious Index, Alphabetically Arranged, (Washington: printed by Jonathan Elliot, 1815).

Although this publication lists the titles of the books in the library Jefferson sold to the Library of Congress earlier in the year, it is important to note that the entries are listed under each chapter in alphabetical order by title, rather than in the order Jefferson listed in the manuscript catalog he assembled circa 1812.

Nicholas Trist, working at Jefferson's request, makes a replica of the catalog that was sent to Washington when Jefferson offered to sell his library to Congress.

This bound manuscript catalog, 113 pages, is held by the Library of Congress. (LC Control number 87204942.) It lists the books according to Jefferson's carefully worked-out original order. Most likely Jefferson annotated a copy of the catalog published in 1815, and this was the basis for Trist's manuscript catalog. A published edition exists, Thomas Jefferson's Library: A Catalog with the Entries in His Own Order, edited by James Gilreath and Doug Wilson (Washington: Library of Congress, 1989).

A catalog listing the final library that Jefferson assembled (consisting of volumes he accumulated after he sold his personal library to Congress in 1815) is published, Catalogue of President Jefferson's library : A catalogue of the extensive and valuable library of the late President Jefferson (copied from the original ms., in his handwriting, as arranged by himself) to be sold at auction..., by Nathaniel Poor (Washington, D.C.: printed by Gales and Seaton, 1829).