Thomas Jefferson Building

The best single lesson in the switch from pen to press anywhere in America. The Library of Congress keeps its Gutenberg Bible on permanent display by the Great Hall of its grandest building. It also owns the Giant Bible of Mainz, copied by a single scribe in 1452 and 1453, almost the moment printing began in the same city, and the two have long been shown facing each other in the Great Hall. One marks the end of the handwritten book and the other the start of the printed one, and seeing them together makes clear how closely early printers copied the look of manuscripts. Check that the Giant Bible is out when you visit. Pair it with Planet Word on the same Washington trip for a day that runs from spoken language to the printed page.