Intellectual Life in Jefferson's Virginia Davis 1972 2nd Printing HC

A well-preserved scholarly study of Virginia's cultural and intellectual landscape in the early national period, this work explores the decades shaped by Thomas Jefferson's influence on education, reading habits, libraries, and literary culture. Drawing heavily on primary sources, Davis reconstructs the intellectual life of Virginia's planter class and emerging institutions, offering insight into the transmission of Enlightenment ideas in the American South. The book was originally recognized with the American Association for State and Local History Manuscript Award in 1963, underscoring its importance as a foundational contribution to early American intellectual history. This copy is the 1972 second printing issued by The University of Tennessee Press, reprinted by arrangement with the University of North Carolina Press, which published the first edition in 1964. The copyright page confirms the second printing statement and includes an early ISBN, with no number line present - typical of academic press printings of the period. The volume is bound in tan cloth with a black spine label stamped in gilt, clean and structurally sound, with tight binding and square boards. The absence of a dust jacket is noted. Condition is Near Fine, with only light signs of handling to the cloth and faint, even toning to the pages. The interior is notably clean, with pencil underlining confined strictly to Chapter III, indicating targeted scholarly engagement rather than pervasive marking. A laid-in handwritten note referencing Enlightenment figures such as Ferguson, Burke, and Montesquieu further supports its use as a serious study copy. Overall, an attractive and highly usable example of an important academic title. Richard Beale Davis (1907-1981) was a prominent American literary historian specializing in early American and Southern intellectual history. A longtime professor at the University of Tennessee, he produced influential works on colonial and early national culture, helping to shape modern understanding of intellectual life in early America. …