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Lot 180
The Declaration of Independence
Peter Force, c. 1833
Closed15 October 2021
Price Realised
USD 20,000
More Information
The Declaration of Independence
Peter Force, c. 1833
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE – In Congress, July 4, 1776. The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America. When in the Course of Human Events... [Washington] engraved by W.J. Stone (1823-1825), reprinted in 1833 from the original copperplate, for Peter Force's American Archives [traditionally mis-dated 1848].
An attractive copy of Peter Force's 1833 printing of the Declaration of Independence, from W.J. Stone's 1823 plate. In 1823, with the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence approaching, Congress commissioned Stone to produce a high-quality, actual-size replica of the original engrossed Declaration. The signatures of the 56 delegates were to be carefully copied. Stone spent three years perfecting the plate and after he had printed the 200 copies ordered, his original engraved plate remained with the Department of State. A decade later, Peter Force (1790-1868), historian, publisher and mayor of Washington D.C., conceived a massive 20-volume anthology entitled American Archives, containing copies of key letters, documents and broadsides from the Revolutionary War. Congress agreed to fund an edition of 1,500 sets. For the project, Force arranged with the State Department to print 4,000 copies of the Declaration from Stone's original copperplate, on fine, wove paper. Stone's imprint was neatly burnished out at the top of the plate – and a discreet "W.J. STONE SC[ULPSIT] WASHN." added in the lower left quadrant.
Folio broadside (770 x 647mm), on rice paper (loss at upper right, tear at top margin, mild offsetting).
Peter Force, c. 1833
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE – In Congress, July 4, 1776. The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America. When in the Course of Human Events... [Washington] engraved by W.J. Stone (1823-1825), reprinted in 1833 from the original copperplate, for Peter Force's American Archives [traditionally mis-dated 1848].
An attractive copy of Peter Force's 1833 printing of the Declaration of Independence, from W.J. Stone's 1823 plate. In 1823, with the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence approaching, Congress commissioned Stone to produce a high-quality, actual-size replica of the original engrossed Declaration. The signatures of the 56 delegates were to be carefully copied. Stone spent three years perfecting the plate and after he had printed the 200 copies ordered, his original engraved plate remained with the Department of State. A decade later, Peter Force (1790-1868), historian, publisher and mayor of Washington D.C., conceived a massive 20-volume anthology entitled American Archives, containing copies of key letters, documents and broadsides from the Revolutionary War. Congress agreed to fund an edition of 1,500 sets. For the project, Force arranged with the State Department to print 4,000 copies of the Declaration from Stone's original copperplate, on fine, wove paper. Stone's imprint was neatly burnished out at the top of the plate – and a discreet "W.J. STONE SC[ULPSIT] WASHN." added in the lower left quadrant.
Folio broadside (770 x 647mm), on rice paper (loss at upper right, tear at top margin, mild offsetting).
The Declaration of Independence
Peter Force, c. 1833
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE – In Congress, July 4, 1776. The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America. When in the Course of Human Events... [Washington] engraved by W.J. Stone (1823-1825), reprinted in 1833 from the original copperplate, for Peter Force's American Archives [traditionally mis-dated 1848].
An attractive copy of Peter Force's 1833 printing of the Declaration of Independence, from W.J. Stone's 1823 plate. In 1823, with the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence approaching, Congress commissioned Stone to produce a high-quality, actual-size replica of the original engrossed Declaration. The signatures of the 56 delegates were to be carefully copied. Stone spent three years perfecting the plate and after he had printed the 200 copies ordered, his original engraved plate remained with the Department of State. A decade later, Peter Force (1790-1868), historian, publisher and mayor of Washington D.C., conceived a massive 20-volume anthology entitled American Archives, containing copies of key letters, documents and broadsides from the Revolutionary War. Congress agreed to fund an edition of 1,500 sets. For the project, Force arranged with the State Department to print 4,000 copies of the Declaration from Stone's original copperplate, on fine, wove paper. Stone's imprint was neatly burnished out at the top of the plate – and a discreet "W.J. STONE SC[ULPSIT] WASHN." added in the lower left quadrant.
Folio broadside (770 x 647mm), on rice paper (loss at upper right, tear at top margin, mild offsetting).
Peter Force, c. 1833
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE – In Congress, July 4, 1776. The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America. When in the Course of Human Events... [Washington] engraved by W.J. Stone (1823-1825), reprinted in 1833 from the original copperplate, for Peter Force's American Archives [traditionally mis-dated 1848].
An attractive copy of Peter Force's 1833 printing of the Declaration of Independence, from W.J. Stone's 1823 plate. In 1823, with the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence approaching, Congress commissioned Stone to produce a high-quality, actual-size replica of the original engrossed Declaration. The signatures of the 56 delegates were to be carefully copied. Stone spent three years perfecting the plate and after he had printed the 200 copies ordered, his original engraved plate remained with the Department of State. A decade later, Peter Force (1790-1868), historian, publisher and mayor of Washington D.C., conceived a massive 20-volume anthology entitled American Archives, containing copies of key letters, documents and broadsides from the Revolutionary War. Congress agreed to fund an edition of 1,500 sets. For the project, Force arranged with the State Department to print 4,000 copies of the Declaration from Stone's original copperplate, on fine, wove paper. Stone's imprint was neatly burnished out at the top of the plate – and a discreet "W.J. STONE SC[ULPSIT] WASHN." added in the lower left quadrant.
Folio broadside (770 x 647mm), on rice paper (loss at upper right, tear at top margin, mild offsetting).