The Personal Library of Carl Sandburg

The Personal Library of Carl Sandburg

When it comes to reading books, quality always trumps quantity because the right books have the capacity to shape your mind and thinking. I have often wondered why people become successful, what books do they read that influence their thinking and perhaps catapult them to success? A few weeks ago while conducting research on the personal libraries of successful people, I discovered legacy libraries. I was very happy with my discovery because I wanted to do a series on the topic for this blog. I started off the series a few weeks ago with Theodore Roosevelt’s library. The intent of the series is to read the books that accomplished people have read to get a sense of how they attained professional success.

Carl August Sandburg was a journalist by trade. He is best known for his poetry, however, he also wrote biographical sketches and American fairy tales. Born on January 6, 1878 in the state of Illinois, Sandburg developed an understanding of the American experience as he roamed the country for close to 50 years with his guitar, singing American folk songs, reports Penelope Niven (American Poets, 1880-1945: Third Series. Ed. Peter Quartermain. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 54. Detroit: Gale Research, 1987.) As he travelled, he found his subject to write about in the landscape and the American people, and he wrote in a way that the ordinary person could understand. Travelling across the United States also helped to shape his political views.

As a very successful writer whose career spanned decades, Sandburg had a large body of work that he left behind – some of which is listed below – so it is worth looking at the books that he had in his personal library. He was awarded two Pulitzer Prizes – the four-volume Abraham Lincoln: The War Years (1939) won the Pulitzer Prize in history, and his Complete Poems (1950) received the Pulitzer Prize in poetry. 

There are over 10,000 books listed on his page on the legacy libraries website, so he had an extensive library. But I am not sure how many of those books he actually read.

Writings by Carl Sandburg

Selected Books

1. In Reckless Ecstasy, as Charles A. Sandburg (Galesburg, Ill.: Asgard Press, 1904).
2. Incidentals, as Charles Sandburg (Galesburg, Ill.: Asgard Press, 1907).
3. The plaint of a rose, as Charles Sandburg (Galesburg, Ill.: Asgard Press, 1908).
4. Joseffy: An appreciation, as Charles Sandburg (Galesburg, Ill.: Asgard Press, 1910).
5. Chicago Poems [1916] (New York: Holt, 1916).
6. Cornhuskers (Illustrated) (New York: Holt, 1918).
7. The Chicago Race Riots: July, 1919, July, 1919 (New York: Harcourt, Brace & Howe, 1919).
8. Smoke and Steel (New York: Harcourt, Brace & Howe, 1920).
9. Slabs of The Sunburnt West (1922) (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1922).
10. Rootabaga Stories (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1922).
11. Rootabaga Pigeons (Rootabaga Stories) (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1923).
12. Abraham Lincoln The Prairie Years (2 Volumes) (Volume I and Volume II) (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1928).
13. Selected Poems, edited by Rebecca West (London: Cape, 1926; New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1926).
14. Carl Sandburg, edited by Hughes Mearns (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1926).
15. Good Morning America (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1928).
16. Steichen the Photographer (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1929).
17. Potato Face.(New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1930).
18. Early Moon (Voyager/HBJ Book) (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1930).
19. Mary Lincoln: Wife and Widow by Sandburg and Paul Angle (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1932).
20. The People, Yes (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1936).
21. Abraham Lincoln: The War Years, 4 volume set (complete) (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1939).
22. Storm Over the Land: A Profile of the Civil War: Taken Mainly From Abraham Lincoln: The War Years (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1942; London: Cape, 1943).
23. Home Front Memo (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1943).
24. The Photographs of Abraham Lincoln, by Sandburg and Frederick Hill Meserve (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1944).
25. Remembrance Rock (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1948).
26. Lincoln Collector: The Story of Oliver R. Barrett's Great Private Collection (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1949).
27. The Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg: Revised and Expanded Edition (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1950; revised and expanded edition, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1970).
28. Always the Young Strangers (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1953); republished in part as Prairie-Town Boy (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1955).
29. Sandburg Range (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1957).
30. Harvest Poems: 1910-1960 (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1960).
31. Wind Song (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1960).
32. Honey and Salt (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1963).
33. The Wedding Procession of the Rag Doll and the Broom Handle and Who Was in It (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1967).
34. Breathing Tokens, edited by Margaret Sandburg (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1978).
35. Ever the Winds of Chance: POEMS, edited by Margaret Sandburg and George Hendrick (Urbana-Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1983).

Randomly Selected Books from the Personal Library of Carl Sandburg

The legacy libraries' website uses an algorithm to randomly select books from Carl Sandburg’s personal library and these are the books it selected. It is worth visiting the website to get a sense of the types of books that are in the personal library of Carl Sandburg. I know that space is at a premium on a website, but I would have found it more helpful if the algorithm selected more than seven books. When someone has over 10,000 books in a personal library, seven books are a drop in the bucket.

1. Alden's Cyclopedia of Universal Literature, Presenting Biographical and Critical Notices and Specimens from the Writings of Eminent Authors of All Ages and All Nations, Vol. 2 (Classic Reprint) by John B. (John Berry)  Alden
2. Batouala (African Writers Series) by René Maran
3. Stations of our life by William Jovanovich
4. A Library of the World's Best Literature – Ancient and Modern – Vol.XXIV (forty-five volumes); Macaulay-Marvell by Charles Dudley; Towne Warner, Edward C.; Mabie, Hamilton Wright (editors) et al
5. The Norsk Nightingale: Being the Lyrics of a “Lumberyack” by William Frederick Kirk
6. Three Ways of Thought in Ancient China by Arthur Waley
7. Landmarks of Liberty; the Growth of American Political Ideals as Recorded in Speeches From Otis to Hughes, Ed. With Introduction and Notes, by Robert P. St. John

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Author Bio: Avil Beckford, an expert interviewer, entrepreneur and published author is passionate about books and professional development, and that's why she founded The Invisible Mentor and the Virtual Literary World Tour to give you your ideal mentors virtually in the palm of your hands by offering book reviews and book summaries, biographies of wise people and interviews of successful people. Connect with me on Facebook and Twitter.

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