Tolstoy's Bible was originally the family bible of Leo Tolstoy. In 1910, the Russian writer traded Indiana Jones his bible in return for the young American's baseball card collection after Jones had taught Tolstoy how to play baseball, the two of them having traveled together for a while.
The Jones family with Tolstoy's Bible.
After Indiana's mother and father discovered the bible in Indiana's possession, Indiana Jones had to initially convince them that he had obtained the bible through an honest trade with Tolstoy. His father thought that the bible was too precious a gift and that Indiana should not have accepted it, to which his son answered that it was not a gift but part of a bargain.
Behind the scenes[]
When Young Indiana Jones: Travels with Father was edited for home release, the prop used for Tolstoy's Bible was changed for its close-up. Between Jones picking up the book and looking at it, the Bible becomes visibly larger and the design on the cover has changed.