Gazette of the United States
Unmasking the Hidden Authors and the Mysterious Deaths of the Early Republic
The Bibliomaniac Archive
What is the Bibliomaniac Archive?
Let's look first at how Merriam Webster defines a "bibliomaniac."
Bibliomaniac noun: bi-blē-ə-ˈmā-nē-,ak : extreme preoccupation with collecting books.
That is not to be confused with a bibliophile, or someone who loves to read. A bibliomaniac loves to collect books. Now, it is possible for a person to be both a bibliophile and a bibliomaniac. And, in the case of our archive, the person we will be focused on appears to have been both.
The Confession of Thomas Jefferson
We know that Thomas Jefferson had a voracious appetite for reading books, but he is also on the record confessing to being a bibliomaniac. It came in a letter Jefferson had written to a fellow book collector, Lucy Ludwell Paradise.
Sensible that I labour grievously under the malady of Bibliomanie, I submit to the rule of buying only at reasonable prices, as to a regimen necessary in that disease.
Enter the Gatekeepers of American Independence
There are over 185,000 documents on the Founders Online website. Their archive contains letters between seven primary Founders, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John jay, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington. It also includes thousands of letters to and from their other contemporary colleagues.
To understand just how rare this "malady" that Jefferson suffered from is, try a search on Founders Online for "bibliomania," "bibliomaniac," and the "bibliomanie," that Jefferson used in his letter. How many documents will be found? One, Jefferson's.
Between August 17, 1757, and August 9, 1809, at least 22 strange deaths occurred near the King's Highway between Charlottesville and Williamsburg. No person on Earth made that road trip more often than Thomas Jefferson. In every case, Jefferson was either proximal, or had a close political collaborator that was proximal.
In almost every case, Jefferson was the beneficiary of something. He either inherited tremendous libraries - which helped alleviate his bibliomanie addiction – or he eliminated an issue that was threatening his legacy.
How Did a Bibliomanie Save the Library of Congress?
The original "Library of Congress," established in 1800, was destroyed by fire during the British invasion of Washington D.C., in 1814. Only a single volume – an 1810 government account book – survived that fire. So, how did it survive, and become today's largest collection of books on Earth?
In 1815, the United States government purchased Thomas Jefferson's private library, containing 6487 volumes, for $23,950. Historians, who are determined to protect the Jefferson legacy, will undoubtedly argue that Jefferson purchased, on credit, most of the books that he sold to the government.
They are being less than honest, and they are doing so intentionally. The vast majority of those 6487 volumes were inherited. The sequential inheritance of those books began with his father Peter's death. By the time Jefferson got to William & Mary college, the plan to expand that inheritance was born. Thomas had found himself a "spinster" with a very wealthy, widowed father.
Whose Mysterious Death Will We Investigate Next?
We began this Bibliomaniac Archive with the case of James T. Callender's death because it was so high profile, and because Callender was so openly, publicly, threatening Jefferson's presidential legacy.
We know that it wasn't Jefferson that held Callender's head under the waters of the James River, because he was in a Cabinet meeting in Washington. But, his colleague and collaborator, Meriwether Jones, lived in a Richmond home just two blocks away from Callender's.
Coming soon, the mysterious deaths of George Wythe and Michael Brown, in 1806.
