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From American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson by Joseph J. Ellis:

Even if we take Jefferson at his word, that he did not copy sections of the Declaration from any particular books, he almost surely had with him copies of his own previous writings, to include Summary View, Causes and Necessities and his three drafts of the Virginia constitution.

I don't comprehend the use of infinitive "to include" here. Shouldn't it be better to substitute it by "including," which sort of like a reduced relative clause—which includes?

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I agree that this is an odd phrasing. I like your suggestion but would alter it to "probably including".

I think I can pinpoint why the phrasing is odd: "to V" is often found in (formal) English, but it refers to a plan or intention, whether that plan is in the future, past or present:

  • Jefferson planned a multi-volume work, to include x, y and z
  • Jones is planning a multi-speaker conference, to include x, y, and z

In this case 'to include' can be read as ellipsis for '[which is] planned to include'. Now you can see why this example is odd---because there is no plan involved.

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