Jefferson at Monticello: The Private Life of Thomas Jefferson

This volume was published in 1862.


Excerpt from the book's Preface:

This volume has been prepared from entirely new ma-
terials, derived from sources hitherto unexplored. It was
the author's rare good fortune, some months since, to
make the acquaintance of Capt. Edmund Bacon, a now
aged and wealthy citizen of Kentucky, who was for
twenty years the chief overseer and business manager of
Mr. Jefferson's estate at Monticello. He obtained from
him a large mass of letters and other documents in Mr.
Jefferson's own handwriting, giving directions as to his
farm, grounds, garden, stock of different kinds, and all
the various matters connected with his farm at Monti-
ceUo. He also spent several weeks in writing out, in
detail, Capt. Bacon's reminiscences of his venerated
employer. This work has been prepared exclusively
from the materials thus acquired. It is not therefore a
rearrangement of historical facts in regard to Mr Jeffer-
son, that were already known and accessible to the pub-
lic, but a presentation of those that are entirely new.