Thomas Jefferson's Monticello - Hardcover

Beiswanger, William L.; Hatch, Peter J.; Stanton, Lucia; Stein, Susan R.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1882886186 ISBN 13: 9781882886180

Publisher: The University of Virginia Press, 2002

Synopsis

Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's mountaintop home in Charlottesville, Virginia, has attracted public attention ever since Jefferson's own day, when sightseers regularly visited the grounds in the hope of catching a glimpse of the former president. In our own day, Monticello has been added to the United Nation' list of World Heritage Sites that must be protected at all costs, designating the house and grounds as an international treasure.

Thomas Jefferson's Monticello is a collection of essays and color photography showcasing this extraordinary American home. Featuring essays written by scholars at Monticello, chapters focus on all aspects of the house and plantation. Monticello, a model of elegance and symmetry, was designed by Jefferson himself, whose architectural prowess prompted a visitor in 1782 to note: "Mr. Jefferson is the first American who has consulted the Fine Arts to know how he should shelter himself from the weather." Inside, Jefferson assembled a world-class collection of objects and furnishings: art and porcelain from France, scientific instruments from England, the finest American furniture from Philadelphia and New York, natural artifacts brought back from the West, as well as furnishings made in Monticello's own joinery by enslaved craftsmen. Surrounding the house, Monticello's celebrated gardens and grounds form an experimental yet breathtakingly lovely landscape of flowers, fruits, and vegetables from the Old and New Worlds. A final chapter on the plantation and the enslaved community at Monticello provides a context in which to place and understand the house and its owner.

With an introductory essay by Wendell Garrett, this compilation is a comprehensive, long-awaited study of Thomas Jefferson's "little mountain."

About this title

About the Author:

William L. Beiswanger is Robert H. Smith Director of Restoration at Monticello and has overseen numerous landscape and building restoration projects there. He is a contributor to the National Trust books American Landscape Architecture and Master Builders, and the author of Monticello in Measured Drawings.

Review:

Many books have been devoted to Monticello; this stands with the best. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

This is a rare coffee-table book, not only handsome but full of worthwhile text and insights into the life and thinking of Jefferson as president, architect and Renaissance man. (Los Angeles Times)

This book takes us on a photographic and textual adventure into the spirit of Monticello and its architect, Thomas Jefferson. (Southern Living)

This beautiful book captures the home's aesthetic appeal, and the experts writing the text bring new information on the way Jefferson lived, studied, and created there. (Garry Wills, author of Lincoln at Gettysburg)

About this edition

• Publisher: The University of Virginia Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 1882886186
• ISBN 13: 9781882886180
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240