In 1904 the Government Printing Office published a facsimile of the Jefferson Bible with an introduction written by Cyrus Adler. The Office distributed 9,000 copies to the two chambers of Congress. In the following years, newly elected senators received a copy of the book until the supply ran out in the 1950s.
It is difficult to describe how one faces the prospect of taking apart a national treasure. Of course, in order to reach the level of craftsmanship required, there are years of education and practice required, but that doesn't begin to fully describe it.
Continue reading...Book conservators always want to know how a book was bound. Before you can even think about how to fix something, you first have to know how it was made.
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The Jefferson Bible, Smithsonian Edition, is a full-color facsimile created from high-resolution digital photographs of recently conserved and rebound pages.
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