RETROPOLIS

David Rubenstein lends National Archives rare Bill of Rights imprint

A broadside printing of the Bill of Rights from the billionaire philanthropist may be one of two in existence

By Michael E. Ruane
Yesterday at 9:00 a.m. EDT



Billionaire philanthropist David Rubenstein gestures toward the rare imprint of the Bill of Rights. (Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post)

When the billionaire philanthropist David Rubenstein was acquiring a 230-year-old broadside printing of the Bill of Rights, he called the head of the National Archives, David Ferriero, and asked: “Do you have this?” ... “I don’t think so,” Ferriero said he replied. The Archives had the handwritten original Bill of Rights that proposed the first amendments to the Constitution. But a printed version in bold letters that was, perhaps, one of only two in existence? “Let me get back to you,” he said.

The Archives did not have such a document. It announced Friday that Rubenstein has bought it and lent it to the Archives for public display in its main building in Washington. The document now joins the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and the faded original Bill of Rights on exhibit at the landmark Archives building.

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A rare copy of the Bill of Rights that David Rubinstein purchased and is lending to the National Archives. (Courtesy of David Rubenstein)

The 1790 imprint shows the original 12 amendments proposed by Congress, only 10 of which were ratified by the states in 1791, though an 11th would be ratified in 1992. There have so far been a total of 27 ratified amendments. On the imprint, the placement of the amendments is different from those in the final version.

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In 2007, Rubenstein paid $21 million for a copy of the famous 1297 Magna Carta, a declaration of English rights that had been on loan to the Archives but was going up for sale. He returned it to the Archives on loan. ... On Monday it was announced that he will donate $15 million to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum to broaden and support its collection of artifacts related to the World War II murder of 6 million Jewish Europeans by the Nazis and their allies. ... “I’m not solving global climate change,” he said last month. “I’m not ending war in Ukraine. I’m trying to do things that I can do.”

By Michael Ruane
Michael E. Ruane is a general assignment reporter who also covers Washington institutions and historical topics. He has been a general assignment reporter at the Philadelphia Bulletin, an urban affairs and state feature writer at the Philadelphia Inquirer, and a Pentagon correspondent at Knight Ridder newspapers. Twitter https://twitter.com/michaelruane