... had owned at his departure. By 1815, he had a collection of 6,700 volumes. But it was not so much on the size of his library that Jefferson prided himself as on the fact that the books it contained had been chosen with great care. He realized that the combination of his intense love of books, his extensive travels, his keen knowledge of bibliography, and his ample means ... that he might donate it to a univer- sity. But when the congressional library in Washington was burned by the in- vading British army in 1814, the former president promptly offered his own. Though he was then in seri...

• Word Count: 4278
• Approx Pages: 17
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School