Showing posts with label Thomas Jefferson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thomas Jefferson. Show all posts

Friday, January 30, 2015

Jeffersonian Architecture

Looks like a very good read.
In 1999, historians at the Virginia Historical Society acquired three curiously bound volumes of drawings and documents created between 1821 and 1858 by a long and unjustifiably-forgotten architect named Thomas R. Blackburn. Inspection revealed that these were, in fact, no ordinary documents but a unique window onto the life of a distinguished builder and his revered master: Thomas Jefferson.

In these extraordinary books, we find Blackburn, at first a young carpenter, engaged in the construction of Jeffersons famed "academical village" at the University of Virginia. He simultaneously embarked on an ambitious program of architectural study, guided, it appears, by Jefferson himself. The drawings he executed in the four decades that followed extraordinary ink and watercolor explorations of his many residential and civic commissions bear witness to his emergence as a mature and prolific architect in his own right.

In Jeffersons Shadow is a unique document of the relationship between an unknown but highly skilled country builder and the American statesman widely considered this nations first gentleman architect. But it is also an indispensable resource on the little-understood practice of architecture in the early and mid-nineteenth century. text found here This book is currently available on Amazon.

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Thomas Jefferson Triple Hung Window

Here's another window that doubles as a door when you open it from the floor. It wasn't long ago that I'd never seen one but now that I'm looking I see them more and more. What a great idea. Isn't this paneled room fabulous? See you later. via

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Garden Pavilion at Monticello

There are those windows again that go all the way to the floor. I love the caption on this photo I found for you this evening: "FOR THE LOVE OF MONTICELLO Thank you, Thomas Jefferson, for understanding that contrary to modern American sentiment - size does NOT matter, and that a single room garden pavilion can bring you to your knees." Well said. 
Found here.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Attention All Boys ~ Learn Carpentry



Me too. This was posted by an 18 year old blogger from New Zealand. I agree and I am a zillion years older. A carpenter is about the best thing you can be and too few young people today realize this. You can build the things in your head that are so hard to describe to a hired man. You can never have too many bookshelves, can you?
I recently found a really interesting article about Thomas Jefferson's BOOK BOXES with the dimensions he used for his. These sound perfect and I really want a set or two. They have built reproductions at Monticello. Thomas Jefferson designed them and thought they were the perfect way to store, display, and travel with his books. They look very simple, don't they? Bookshelves don't have to be ornamental in any way. The books they hold are the decoration.



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Friday, February 19, 2010

Thomas Jefferson's Library Is Being Recreated

The Library of Congress is attempting to reassemble Thomas Jefferson's original library sold to Congress in 1815 for $23,950. Jefferson had the largest and perhaps the finest personal collection of books in the country which he offered to the United States government to replace the holdings in the Capitol that were burned by the British in 1814. His book collection became the foundation of the Library of Congress. A second fire on Christmas Eve of 1851 destroyed nearly two thirds of the 6,487 volumes Congress purchased from Jefferson. He never used the word "sold" when referring to the transaction but used "ceded" instead.

Does anyone know if there is a list of the books they are missing? I would gladly donate any volumes I might have in my personal library of antiquarian books to this worthy cause. Read more. I love stories like this, don't you?

Proclaiming that "I cannot live without books," Jefferson began a second collection of several thousand books, which was sold at auction in 1829 to help satisfy his creditors.


Stated in a letter to John Adams dated June 10, 1815.

Have a great weekend, Rosemary.


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Saturday, June 27, 2009

A picture story visit to Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home in Virginia . . .

If you want to understand the United States and its people, says artist/author Maira Kalman, you need to visit Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home in Virginia.

You know how much I love Maira Kalman's picture stories. I've blogged about her in the past and her stories always thrill and delight me. I love Thomas Jefferson too so I was very interested to see what she had to say about him when she visited Monticello.

She was especially interested in the way he managed his time. The title of the New York Times story is TIME WASTES TOO FAST.

Read and enjoy the complete story here. You will be so glad you did.

This is the last weekend in June...enjoy it to the fullest. Thanks for stopping by the cottage. ♥Rosemary



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