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[Declaration of Independence]. Peter Force. American Archives: Consisting of A Collection of Authentick Records, S...
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Description
Peter Force's Declaration of Independence, Appearing in American Archives
[Declaration of Independence]. Peter Force. American
Archives: Consisting of A Collection of Authentick
Records, State Papers, Debates, and Letters and Other Notices of
Publick Affairs, the whole forming a Documentary History of the
Origin and Progress of the North American Colonies; of the Causes
and Accomplishment of the American Revolution; and of the
Constitutions of Government for the United States, to the Final
Ratifications Thereof. In Six Series. Fifth Series. Volume I.
Containing a Documentary History of The United States of
America, from the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776, to the
Definitive Treaty of Peace with Great Britain, September 3,
1783. Washington, [D.C.]: M. St. Clair Clarke and Peter Force,
April 1848.Oversized quarto. Publisher's half-calf and marbled boards.
[Complete with]: Declaration of Independence. Copperplate engraving printed on rice paper. [Washington]: Engraved by William J. Stone, reprinted for Peter Force in 1833 (historically mis-dated as 1848, when the present volume was published) from Stone's copperplate.
In 1820, then-Secretary of State John Quincy Adams commissioned William J. Stone to engrave a facsimile of the Declaration of Independence in an effort to preserve the deteriorating foundational text. The painstaking engraving process took Stone three years to complete. When finished, a resolution by the Senate and the House of Representatives provided, "That two hundred copies of the Declaration, now in the Department of State, be distributed..." In fact, Stone produced two hundred and one copies of his facsimile on vellum, keeping the final copy for himself, which was later donated by his widow to the Smithsonian.
After completing the printing of the vellum copies, Stone removed the legend from the top of the copperplate and added the imprint: "W.J. STONE SC. WASHn." "It is from this altered plate that several thousand paper copies were pulled throughout the years" (Coleman).
In 1833, Peter Force, printer, historian, and future mayor of Washington, D.C., successfully persuaded Congress to authorize the publication of a multi-volume work which would eventually be named American Archives: A Documentary History of the United States of America. Force contracted Stone to produce additional copies of the Declaration of Independence from the same copperplate as those examples produced in 1823. On July 21, 1833, Stone invoiced Peter Force for 4,000 prints of the Declaration of Independence (though the Department of State had contracted for only 1,500 copies). The facsimile Declaration engravings were printed on rice paper and inserted into the textblock of the present volume, the 1848 printing of Series V, Volume I of Force's American Archives. Though the actual number of copies printed is unknown, with estimates ranging from 500 to upwards of 1,000, it is believed that only a few hundred of Force's printings of the Declaration of Independence are known to exist today. Usually found removed, the present copy is bound within American Archives as originally issued.
Condition: Disbound and spine perished, lacking front board, back board rubbed, bumped, and worn. Front free endpaper and fly leaves detached but present. Textblock broken where Declaration inserted (between columns 1596 and 1597) and leaves containing columns 1589-1596 (four pages, two leaves), including the Declaration, detached but present. Textblock toned throughout and with scattered foxing and soiling.
References: Bidwell 7, "American History in Image and Text," in Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, Vol. 98, Part 2, 1989; Coleman, "Counting the Stones," in Manuscripts, Vol. 43, No. 2, Spring 1991; Goff, "Peter Force" in The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, Vol. 44, First Quarter, 1950; Kaller, "America's National Treasure: The Declaration of Independence & William J. Stone's Official Facsimile," 2014.
Auction Info
2023 December 15 Historical Platinum Session Signature® Auction #6280 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
December, 2023
15th
Friday
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