Lincoln Inaugural Bible (used in 1861 as well as 2009 & today-2013): Library of Congress information

www.loc.gov/

The Lincoln inaugural Bible used by Barack Obama when he took his first presidential oath of office in 2009—which will be used again by the president along with Martin Luther King’s Bible at the second inaugural ceremony on Jan. 21—will go on display at the Library of Congress later this week up to Feb. 18 (Presidents Day - The Third Monday of Feburary 2013).

The Lincoln Bible, bound in burgundy velvet with a gold-washed metal rim, will be on view from Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013 through Monday, Feb. 18, 2013 in the exhibition "The Civil War in America" in the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. S.E., Washington, D.C. The exhibit is free and open to the public from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Saturday.

On March 4, 1861, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney administered the oath of office to Abraham Lincoln using a Bible provided by William Thomas Carroll, clerk of the Supreme Court, because Lincoln’s family Bible was packed with other belongings that were still en route to Washington from Springfield, Illinois.

In the back of the velvet-covered Bible, along with the seal of the Supreme Court, the volume is annotated: "I, William Thomas Carroll, clerk of the said court do hereby certify that the preceding copy of the Holy Bible is that upon which the Honble. R.B. Taney, Chief Justice of the said Court, administered to His Excellency, Abraham Lincoln, the oath of office as President of the United States."

The 1,280-page Bible was published in 1853 by the Oxford University Press. In the center of the front cover is a shield, made of gold wash over white metal, with the words "Holy Bible" engraved into it.

On Jan. 20, 2009, President-elect Obama took the oath of office on this Bible that is steeped in history. He will use it again on Jan. 21, 2013 in addition to one Martin Luther King’s Bibles. The two historically significant Bibles will be stacked one on top of the other, as the president takes the oath of office for a second time.

http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2013/13-015.html