Vie de M. Turgot 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 Vie de Turgot. This text was pulled from another collection in the library, to recreate Jefferson’s original catalogue.

Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas de Caritat, Marquis de Condorcet (1743-1794) was a French philosopher of the
Enlightenment period and advocate for educational reform and women’s rights. He wrote Vie de M. Turgot, a biography of Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, Baron de l’Aulne (1727-1781) a French economist who was
an administrator under Louis XV and served as the comptroller general of finance (1774-1776) under Louis XVI. The book discusses Turgot's thoughts on economy, education, and politics. 

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It was common practice for the Government Printing Office to rebind books in red buckram cloth case bindings, to indicate ownerships and to create a more cohesive appearance of library collections. Vie de Turgot was rebound in the early to mid 20th-century, and was oversewn, causing the book to have a poor opening, limiting usability. The goal of this treatment was to make the book functional, 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 unoriginal case binding was removed and the book was disbound. 

• The loose gatherings were surface cleaned, washed in pH adjusted water, and then re-sized with gelatin.

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

• Blue 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 speckled calf, and the blind tooled. A red leather spine label was stamped in gilt and adhered to the second panel of the spine.