The printed disclosure of the Declaration of Independence of the United States takes the forms of official or private posters and of spontaneous newspaper inserts. The posters have the format of broadsides, intended to be visible on walls for a few days. They are also read to the troops and to the public.
The official broadside of the Congress is printed by Dunlap in Philadelphia in the early morning of July 5, 1776 and passed on to the delegates for disclosure in the thirteen colonies without waiting for the ratification. This document is directly or indirectly the source of all early publications of the Declaration.
The Declaration reaches Boston on July 13 and Watertown three days later. The executive Council of Massachusetts meeting in Watertown decides on July 17 a new edition of the broadside for use by religion ministers. It adds in post scriptum a requirement to read the text aloud after the Divine service of the very first Lord's Day following the receipt of the document.
This edition by order of the Massachusetts Council is commissioned to the official printer of the colony, Ezekiel Russell, working in Salem. Very similar to the Dunlap edition, it is typed in a single broad column.
Russell was also the printer of Salem's only newspaper, The American Gazette. The Council was unaware that the Declaration had already been published in the No. 5 of this new weekly paper on 16 July in four narrow columns spreading over two pages. During the composition of this issue the same four columns had been printed as a 43 x 36 cm broadside, perhaps by the Gazette's publisher for his personal trade. A copy was sold for $ 570K including premium by Sotheby's on June 17, 2010.
On July 23 the No. 6 of The American Gazette is devoted to the Declaration as authorized by the Council, with a few words apologizing to readers for that exclusive content. The authorized broadside 50 x 40 cm was certainly printed simultaneously. A poor copy was sold for $ 510K including premium by Heritage on April 5, 2016. A very fresh copy passed at Sotheby's in New York on June 19, 2015 and is estimated $ 1M in the same auction room on January 17, lot 176.
On August 5 the Council approves its official broadside. Both examples discussed above identify on their back the recipient Reverend and his parish. The American Gazette had permanently ceased its publication after its No. 7, probably due to a break of partnership between publisher and printer.
SOLD for $ 1.2M including premium
The official broadside of the Congress is printed by Dunlap in Philadelphia in the early morning of July 5, 1776 and passed on to the delegates for disclosure in the thirteen colonies without waiting for the ratification. This document is directly or indirectly the source of all early publications of the Declaration.
The Declaration reaches Boston on July 13 and Watertown three days later. The executive Council of Massachusetts meeting in Watertown decides on July 17 a new edition of the broadside for use by religion ministers. It adds in post scriptum a requirement to read the text aloud after the Divine service of the very first Lord's Day following the receipt of the document.
This edition by order of the Massachusetts Council is commissioned to the official printer of the colony, Ezekiel Russell, working in Salem. Very similar to the Dunlap edition, it is typed in a single broad column.
Russell was also the printer of Salem's only newspaper, The American Gazette. The Council was unaware that the Declaration had already been published in the No. 5 of this new weekly paper on 16 July in four narrow columns spreading over two pages. During the composition of this issue the same four columns had been printed as a 43 x 36 cm broadside, perhaps by the Gazette's publisher for his personal trade. A copy was sold for $ 570K including premium by Sotheby's on June 17, 2010.
On July 23 the No. 6 of The American Gazette is devoted to the Declaration as authorized by the Council, with a few words apologizing to readers for that exclusive content. The authorized broadside 50 x 40 cm was certainly printed simultaneously. A poor copy was sold for $ 510K including premium by Heritage on April 5, 2016. A very fresh copy passed at Sotheby's in New York on June 19, 2015 and is estimated $ 1M in the same auction room on January 17, lot 176.
On August 5 the Council approves its official broadside. Both examples discussed above identify on their back the recipient Reverend and his parish. The American Gazette had permanently ceased its publication after its No. 7, probably due to a break of partnership between publisher and printer.
SOLD for $ 1.2M including premium
#AuctionUpdate 'We hold these truths to be self-evident...' A broadside of The Declaration of Independence achieves $1,185,000 in #SothebysBooks auction. Next up: Important Americana at 10am EST #SothebysAmericana pic.twitter.com/W0ZRylIf3H
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) January 17, 2018
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