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Lot Essay
The Declaration, Thomas Jefferson later wrote, was intended ''to be an expression of the American mind,'' reflecting ''the proper tone and spirit called for by the occasion'' (letter to Henry Lee, 8 May 1825). The Continental Congress, after authorizing the writing of the Declaration and approving the text submitted by Jefferson and his committee, took steps to ensure the rapid dissemination of the historic document. When the approved text was adopted on 4 July 1776, Congress directed that copies ''be sent to the several Assemblies, Conventions & Committees or Councils of Safety and that it be proclaimed in each of the United States.''
Philadelphia printer John Dunlap, working on the night of 4 July, set in type a bold broadside of the Declaration, and beginning on 5 July, John Hancock, President of Congress dispatched copies to the state assemblies and to Generals George Washington and Artemas Ward. The quick dissemination of the historic text of the Declaration may be vividly traced in newspapers and broadside editions from its birthplace in Philadelphia throughout the thirteen self-proclaimed states, as rapidly as express riders and the post could carry it. Philadelphians saw this critical document published first on 6 July in the Pennsylvania Evening Post. Those in Baltimore were able to read it as early as 9 July in Dunlap's Maryland Gazette; New Yorkers could read it between 10 and 15 July in three of that city's newspapers and three broadside printings. Mary Goddard’s Maryland Journal printed it in Baltimore on 10 July. The Maryland Gazette, in Annapolis, published it on the 11th. The next three weeks saw newspaper or broadside printings in New London, Connecticut; Providence, Rhode Island; Hartford, Norwich, Exeter, Salem, Worcester, New Haven, Portsmouth and Williamsburg.
Of the fourteen contemporary broadside editions of the Declaration, including the present copy, five bear no imprints. Frederick Goff attributed it to Robert Luist Fowle, printer of The New Hampshire Gazette or Exeter Morning Chronicle. Most extant examples were found in southern New Hampshire and the text in the heading corresponds closely to the Declaration's text as printed in Fowle's Gazette (16 July 1776). (See Goff, "A Contemporary Broadside Printing of the Declaration of Independence," Quarterly Journal of Current Acquisitions (Washington: Library of Congress, November 1947) Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 12-16.) Ironically, Fowle is believed to have been loyalist, making his newspaper printing, and the present broadside all the more fascinating. Fowle apprenticed with his uncle, Daniel Fowle, in Portsmouth. Daniel had been a printer in Boston until 1754, when he was accused of printing a pamphlet critical of the colonial government. Following his release, he removed to Portsmouth, New Hampshire to set up a new shop. Robert Fowle worked with his uncle until about 1775, when they had a disagreement over politics (Daniel was siding with the rebels, while Robert leaned Tory) and the nephew moved to Exeter to set up his own press, and newspaper: The New Hampshire Gazette or Exeter Morning Chronicle. It appears that Fowle kept his opinions to himself. He operated unmolested until 1777 when he was arrested, accused of forging paper money. As the court was considering his case, Fowle escaped to the British lines. While in exile, Robert's brother Zachariah took over the press until his death in 1790. That year, Robert returned to Exeter, married his brother's widow and established himself as a merchant—while still collecting a Loyalist pension from the crown. (See Barbara Rimkunas, "Robert Luist Fowle: Exeter's Tory Printer," Exeter Historical Society blog, 17 November 2020 https://exeterhistory.blogspot.com/2010/11/robert-luist-fowle-exeters-tory-printer.html).
Walsh 15, Bristol B4408; the second state of this printing with the final three lines reset, including correction to "Hancock", which was misprinted as “Hacock” in the first state (and recorded as No. 14 in Walsh's census). We are aware the existence of a total of ten extant copies of this broadside, only two of which are known in the first state. We are grateful to Seth Kaller for sharing his extensive research on this edition.
A note the text: Like Solomon Southwick in Newport, Ezekiel Russell in Salem, and John Gill in Boston, this printing altered Dunlap's adjectival "divine" to the nominative "Divine." Additionally, like John Gill in Boston, the printer of the present broadside set the text in two columns—a format common to biblical texts. The printer's choices in the present broadside anticipate the version printed by Mary Goddard that was authenticated formally by Congress on 18 January 1777 and sent to each state as the official record of the document. Whereas using the lowercase "divine," could evoke a general idea of a supreme being without religious specificity, capitalizing "Divine," could be interpreted as referring to an overtly Christian God. As such, there lies the possibility that the use of the capital "D" in this context would have served as an additional insult to the monarch. George III as head of the Church of England was considered "Defender of the Faith." Not only were his former subjects committing treason against their king—they believed God was on their side—not his.
While it may never be determined conclusively whether Congress overtly intended to use the capital "D" in "Divine," is found in some of the Declaration's earliest printings. Benjamin Towne's Pennsylvania Evening Post, the first newspaper to print the text of Declaration, capitalizes the word, as does Cist and Steiner's German-language broadside printing (printed sometime between 6 and 9 July). The first dated appearance of the Declaration's text outside Philadelphia, Joseph Holt's printing in the 11 July issue of the New-York Journal, also employs a capital "D," as do the first printings in London on 16 August (London Evening Post & Lloyd's Evening Register). Most importantly, the present broadside is similar the broadside issued by Mary Goddard in Baltimore which is formatted in two-column format and capitalizes "Divine." Goddard printed that broadside per an order an order of Congress of 17 January 1777, "That an authenticated Copy of the Declaration of Independence, with the Names of the Members of Congress, subscribing the same, be sent to each of the United States, and they be desired to have the same put on Record." And indeed, when John Dunlap, who in his own broadside and newspaper editions of July 1776, employed the lowercase "divine", printed the Declaration's text for the Journals of Congress at his press-in-exile in York, Pennsylvania, in 1778, he chose all capitals for the official publication in the same fashion as Mary Goddard's authenticated text. In 2001, the consignor chose to sell their copy of the Dunlap broadside printing (Walsh 1) and purchased the present broadside due to their observation that Dunlap’s copy digressed from the authenticated text as expressed in Mary Goddard’s printing conforming to the order of Congress of 18 January 1777.
Rare. Of the ten extant copies of this broadside, only three have come to auction in nearly a century—all in the second state. The other two have both sold in these rooms, including the Goodspeed-Streeter-Sang copy (Christie's New York, 22 April 2021, lot 6), and a copy sold by the late William Middendorf (Christie's New York, 22 January 2021, lot 315). All contemporary broadside editions of the Declaration of Independence are rare, and, ironically, Dunlap's first broadside is the most common, surviving in 27 copies. Of the fourteen contemporary broadside editions printed between July 1776 and January 1777, 119 survive, and of those, at least 79 are in institutional holdings.
Philadelphia printer John Dunlap, working on the night of 4 July, set in type a bold broadside of the Declaration, and beginning on 5 July, John Hancock, President of Congress dispatched copies to the state assemblies and to Generals George Washington and Artemas Ward. The quick dissemination of the historic text of the Declaration may be vividly traced in newspapers and broadside editions from its birthplace in Philadelphia throughout the thirteen self-proclaimed states, as rapidly as express riders and the post could carry it. Philadelphians saw this critical document published first on 6 July in the Pennsylvania Evening Post. Those in Baltimore were able to read it as early as 9 July in Dunlap's Maryland Gazette; New Yorkers could read it between 10 and 15 July in three of that city's newspapers and three broadside printings. Mary Goddard’s Maryland Journal printed it in Baltimore on 10 July. The Maryland Gazette, in Annapolis, published it on the 11th. The next three weeks saw newspaper or broadside printings in New London, Connecticut; Providence, Rhode Island; Hartford, Norwich, Exeter, Salem, Worcester, New Haven, Portsmouth and Williamsburg.
Of the fourteen contemporary broadside editions of the Declaration, including the present copy, five bear no imprints. Frederick Goff attributed it to Robert Luist Fowle, printer of The New Hampshire Gazette or Exeter Morning Chronicle. Most extant examples were found in southern New Hampshire and the text in the heading corresponds closely to the Declaration's text as printed in Fowle's Gazette (16 July 1776). (See Goff, "A Contemporary Broadside Printing of the Declaration of Independence," Quarterly Journal of Current Acquisitions (Washington: Library of Congress, November 1947) Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 12-16.) Ironically, Fowle is believed to have been loyalist, making his newspaper printing, and the present broadside all the more fascinating. Fowle apprenticed with his uncle, Daniel Fowle, in Portsmouth. Daniel had been a printer in Boston until 1754, when he was accused of printing a pamphlet critical of the colonial government. Following his release, he removed to Portsmouth, New Hampshire to set up a new shop. Robert Fowle worked with his uncle until about 1775, when they had a disagreement over politics (Daniel was siding with the rebels, while Robert leaned Tory) and the nephew moved to Exeter to set up his own press, and newspaper: The New Hampshire Gazette or Exeter Morning Chronicle. It appears that Fowle kept his opinions to himself. He operated unmolested until 1777 when he was arrested, accused of forging paper money. As the court was considering his case, Fowle escaped to the British lines. While in exile, Robert's brother Zachariah took over the press until his death in 1790. That year, Robert returned to Exeter, married his brother's widow and established himself as a merchant—while still collecting a Loyalist pension from the crown. (See Barbara Rimkunas, "Robert Luist Fowle: Exeter's Tory Printer," Exeter Historical Society blog, 17 November 2020 https://exeterhistory.blogspot.com/2010/11/robert-luist-fowle-exeters-tory-printer.html).
Walsh 15, Bristol B4408; the second state of this printing with the final three lines reset, including correction to "Hancock", which was misprinted as “Hacock” in the first state (and recorded as No. 14 in Walsh's census). We are aware the existence of a total of ten extant copies of this broadside, only two of which are known in the first state. We are grateful to Seth Kaller for sharing his extensive research on this edition.
A note the text: Like Solomon Southwick in Newport, Ezekiel Russell in Salem, and John Gill in Boston, this printing altered Dunlap's adjectival "divine" to the nominative "Divine." Additionally, like John Gill in Boston, the printer of the present broadside set the text in two columns—a format common to biblical texts. The printer's choices in the present broadside anticipate the version printed by Mary Goddard that was authenticated formally by Congress on 18 January 1777 and sent to each state as the official record of the document. Whereas using the lowercase "divine," could evoke a general idea of a supreme being without religious specificity, capitalizing "Divine," could be interpreted as referring to an overtly Christian God. As such, there lies the possibility that the use of the capital "D" in this context would have served as an additional insult to the monarch. George III as head of the Church of England was considered "Defender of the Faith." Not only were his former subjects committing treason against their king—they believed God was on their side—not his.
While it may never be determined conclusively whether Congress overtly intended to use the capital "D" in "Divine," is found in some of the Declaration's earliest printings. Benjamin Towne's Pennsylvania Evening Post, the first newspaper to print the text of Declaration, capitalizes the word, as does Cist and Steiner's German-language broadside printing (printed sometime between 6 and 9 July). The first dated appearance of the Declaration's text outside Philadelphia, Joseph Holt's printing in the 11 July issue of the New-York Journal, also employs a capital "D," as do the first printings in London on 16 August (London Evening Post & Lloyd's Evening Register). Most importantly, the present broadside is similar the broadside issued by Mary Goddard in Baltimore which is formatted in two-column format and capitalizes "Divine." Goddard printed that broadside per an order an order of Congress of 17 January 1777, "That an authenticated Copy of the Declaration of Independence, with the Names of the Members of Congress, subscribing the same, be sent to each of the United States, and they be desired to have the same put on Record." And indeed, when John Dunlap, who in his own broadside and newspaper editions of July 1776, employed the lowercase "divine", printed the Declaration's text for the Journals of Congress at his press-in-exile in York, Pennsylvania, in 1778, he chose all capitals for the official publication in the same fashion as Mary Goddard's authenticated text. In 2001, the consignor chose to sell their copy of the Dunlap broadside printing (Walsh 1) and purchased the present broadside due to their observation that Dunlap’s copy digressed from the authenticated text as expressed in Mary Goddard’s printing conforming to the order of Congress of 18 January 1777.
Rare. Of the ten extant copies of this broadside, only three have come to auction in nearly a century—all in the second state. The other two have both sold in these rooms, including the Goodspeed-Streeter-Sang copy (Christie's New York, 22 April 2021, lot 6), and a copy sold by the late William Middendorf (Christie's New York, 22 January 2021, lot 315). All contemporary broadside editions of the Declaration of Independence are rare, and, ironically, Dunlap's first broadside is the most common, surviving in 27 copies. Of the fourteen contemporary broadside editions printed between July 1776 and January 1777, 119 survive, and of those, at least 79 are in institutional holdings.