copyright 2011 "First Edition" stated on copyright page; "The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth Extracted Textually from the Gospels in Greek, Latin, French & English"; Smithsonian Edition with Essays by Harry R. Rubenstein, Barbara Clark Smith & Janice Stagnitto Ellis; hardbound in brilliant red boards with gilt design and lettering on boards and spine; includes the original clear plastic jacket with picture of Jefferson on front; includes fold-out maps; very good condition of book, pages, clear jacket, maps and boards.
 
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Jefferson produced this 84-page volume in 1820—six years before he died at age 83—bound it in red leather and titled it The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth. He had pored over six copies of the New Testament, in Greek, Latin, French and King James English. “He had a classic education at [the College of] William & Mary,” Rubenstein says, “so he could compare the different translations. He cut out passages with some sort of very sharp blade and, using blank paper, glued down lines from each of the Gospels in four columns, Greek and Latin on one side of the pages, and French and English on the other.”
 
Much of the material Jefferson elected to not include related miraculous events, such as the feeding of the multitudes with only two fish and five loaves of barley bread; he eschewed anything that he perceived as “contrary to reason.” His idiosyncratic gospel concludes with Christ’s entombment but omits his resurrection. He kept Jesus’ own teachings, such as the Beatitude, “Blessed are the peace-makers: for they shall be called the children of God.”