Positive reconstruction · reader-scoped, not an inferred-absence lacuna
This reconstruction covers the readable fraction of Thomas Jefferson's formation -- attested reading and writing only, not the whole of a life.
Thomas Jefferson and Lives of Plutarch (Coray's edition with Scholia)
Thomas Jefferson's attested relationship to Lives of Plutarch (Coray's edition with Scholia).
Thomas Jefferson is attested as having read this work by Plutarch, ed. Coray.
Evidence ledger
- First-person reading testimony (Explicit first-person completed reading of the addressee's edition: 'I had seen only your Lives of Plutarch. These I had read, and profited much by your valuable Scholia.' Edition and editor (Coray) in-passage; no catalogue match survives OCR; proposed as a new Work.). Self-report reliability discount 0.8: Explicit completed reading with declared profit ('These I had read, and profited much by your valuable Scholia') - use of the apparatus is specific engagement; discount for the flattery context (praising the editor-addressee's scholia while thanking him for further gifts).