Friday, February 24, 2017

John Adams' Marginalia

A largely untapped resource full of quotations.



John Adams was arguably the original blogger; he talked to his books. The Boston Public Library has some 3700 books on display owned by John Adams. As Richard Brookhiser noted in the linked to New York Times article:
Zoltan Haraszti, a former keeper of rare books and editor of publications at the library, published many of Adams’s marginalia in his 1952 book, “John Adams and the Prophets of Progress.” But now this quadrant of Adams’s mind will be completely mapped.
Little of John Adams' marginalia comes up in search engines. Though, to access a sample, you may follow this link. The book "Prophets of Progress" contains more. The book, available here, is also part of my school library's collection and it's now in my hands.

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