Remarks on the Life and Writings of Dr. Jonathan Swift, Dean of St. Patrick’s, Dublin, In a Series of Letters from John Earl of Orrery to His Son, the Honourable Hamilton Boyle is part of the Thomas Jefferson Collection on permanent display in the Great Hall of the Library of Congress. Jefferson’s collection was acquired by LC in 1815, after the collection (then housed in the  Capitol Building) was set ablaze the year prior. On Christmas Eve of 1851, a majority of Jefferson's collection was destroyed in another blaze, including Jefferson’s original copy of Remarks on the Life and Writings of Dr. Jonathan Swift. This text was pulled from another collection in the library, to recreate Jefferson’s original catalogue.

Remarks on the Life and Writings of Dr. Jonathan Swift, is considered the first attempt to give an account of the life and work of Swift by a contemporary. Based on the graphite inscriptions in the book, the Library of Congress acquired the book in 1937 from the University of Western Ontario. Presumably, the book previously belonged to John Davis Barnett (1848 – 1926), an early Canadian curator and librarian. Barnett collected one of the most significant early personal libraries in Ontario and was a strong proponent of education through the use of freely accessible printed materials. He donated 40,000 volumes to the Library of Western Ontario and was a lecturer at the first provincial library school. He wrote extensively on the ideas of inter-library loans, classification systems, collections development, and collections management.

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The book was in poor condition, as the the spine was heavily damaged and previously repaired with brown book cloth. The textblock was hinged into the original leather boards (though it was intended to be a tight back in-boards binding) with gummed tape on the first and last gatherings. The textblock was split in half. The goal of this treatment was to make the book functional again, and to rebind the book in a historically accurate style. Additionally, the Jefferson collection will be moved to a new location in the Visitor’s Center in 2027. This book was selected as part of an initiative to improve the overall appearance of the  collection. 

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Treatment Overview

• The heavily deteriorated original binding was removed and the book was disbound. 

• The loose gatherings were surface cleaned, and then guarded with a medium weight Japanese tissue.

• The first three and last two leaves were lined with pre-toned Tengujo ( 3.5 gsm) pre-coated with 2% Klucel M in ethanol, using 2% Klucel M in ethanol. 

• The textblock was resewn on five raised bands, and then rounded and backed. The textblock was lined with a kozo tissue reversibility layer, airplane linen, and western paper. 

• Red and ivory two color front bead endbands were sewn onto the book. 

• Boards were shaped and the raised cord slips were laced though.

• The book was covered in brown calf, and then tooled, to mimic the original binding. A red leather spine label was stamped in gilt and adhered to the second panel of the spine.

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