Editing Bookcase (section)

=== Thomas Jefferson's book boxes ===
Similar to the Barrister's bookcase is [[Thomas Jefferson]]'s book boxes. When the British burned down the capitol in 1814, Congress went into negotiations with Thomas Jefferson to purchase his personal library of about 6,700 books. The book collection would be the foundation of the [[Library of Congress]], and it had its own specially designed shelves designed to help transport the books with ease from Thomas Jefferson's home at Monticello.

The book boxes or ("book presses" as they are sometimes called) were made of pine with backs and shelves, but no fronts. They were designed to be three-tiered, stacked on top of each other. When fully assembled, the boxes stood about 9 feet high. Each shelf had a different depth, however, ranging from 13 inches to 5.75 inches deep. The shelves had about ¾ inch on the front where boards could be nailed on for transportation.<ref>Schwarz, C. (March 18, 2020). [https://www.popularwoodworking.com/projects/monticello%E2%80%99s-stacking-bookcases/ Monticello's stacking bookcases: Thomas Jefferson's book boxes became the foundation of the Library of Congress]. ''Popular Woodworking''.</ref> Scrap paper was used to stuff between the books as a way of protecting them during their journey. When it was time to transport the books, the individual shelves could be removed then reassembled once they made it to their final location.

There is no documentation that Thomas Jefferson actually designed them himself, but the amount of detail that went into their construction suggests that they were his idea. There are no surviving original book boxes, but officials at Monticello were able to recreate six of these bookcases in 1959.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Book Boxes|url=https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/book-boxes|access-date=2020-11-28|website=www.monticello.org|language=en}}</ref> This was achieved through experts compiling all written evidence of the book boxes as well as taking measurements of the remaining volumes from the Jefferson Library at the Library of Congress.