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Privately Owned |
“In Congress, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America …”
[Declaration of Independence]. William J. Stone, Copperplate engraving on vellum, First Edition. 24 3/4 x 30 5/16”.
In 2006, this copy of the first “exact facsimile” of the Declaration was cleaned out of a garage and donated to a thrift shop in 2006, where it sold for the thrift shop “standard price” of $2.48. The buyer researched it, had it authenticated, and sent it to a top conservator. He then sold in 2007 at Raynor’s Historical Collectible Auction, for $477,000. After post-discovery press, the donor came forward (“I was the idiot,” he said). He explained that cleaning out the garage was part of his recent pre-marriage negotiation. Out went a great deal of junk- along with the Declaration that he had bought it at a flea market for $10 a decade earlier). We acquired this document for a client in 2008.
Historical Background:
All of the July broadsides and newspapers were created before what we now think of as the “original manuscript.” On July 19, 1776, Congress ordered an official copy of the Declaration to be engrossed on vellum and signed by the members. Timothy Matlack, the clerk of Secretary of Congress Charles Thomson, was chosen to copy the text of the Declaration onto a large vellum sheet, which would then be signed by the delegates. The title of the Declaration was changed to “The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America,” after New York voted for independence on July 9.
On August 2, 1776, it was recorded in the Journal of Congress that “the declaration of independence being engrossed and compared at the table was signed” by the members of Congress then assembled. The order of signatures proceeded geographically, the delegates from New England signing first. Several delegates not present signed later. A couple of the signers had not been members of Congress on July 4; Thomas Lynch, Jr., for instance, replaced his father who had passed away in the meantime.
The names of the signers remained unknown for the most part until 1777. After the decisive battles of Trenton and Princeton, Congress on January 18, 1777, ordered an authenticated copy of the Declaration printed for distribution to the states, complete with signer’s names. A Baltimore printer, Mary Katherine Goddard, set the type from the original engrossed document in her shop. Only nine of the Goddard broadsides are known to exist, some signed by Hancock and Thomson.
When Congress moved to Philadelphia from Baltimore in March 1777, the manuscript Declaration traveled along, and it continued to be held by Congress until March 1790, when Thomas Jefferson assumed his position as the first Secretary of State. The precious document was frequently unrolled for display to visitors, and the signatures, especially, began to fade after nearly fifty years of handling. More damage followed, caused by the effects of aging and exposure to sunlight and humidity as the Declaration hung unprotected on a wall in the Patent Office for thirty-five years. At the time of the Centennial, efforts at preservation and conservation belatedly began. By 1876, however, the manuscript was thus described in the Philadelphia Public Ledger: “The text is fully legible, but the major part of the signatures are so pale as to be only dimly discernible in the strongest light, a few remain wholly readable, and some are wholly invisible, the spaces which contained them presenting only a blank.”
Fortunately, in 1820, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams grew concerned over the fragile condition of the Declaration. With the approval of Congress, Adams commissioned William J. Stone to engrave a facsimile—an exact copy—on a copper plate. Stone’s engraving is the best representation of the Declaration as the manuscript looked prior to its nearly complete deterioration.
First Edition of the Stone Facsimile in 1823
William J. Stone’s Declaration was engraved on copperplate and printed on vellum, a parchment sheet made from calfskin. The engraving is as close to an exact copy of the original manuscript as was humanly possible at that time, before the use of photographic imagery. Stone worked on the engraving for close to three years, keeping the original in his shop. On April 11, 1823, Adams noted a visit from “Stone the Engraver, who has finished his fac-simile of the original Declaration of Independence.” By May 10, the original engrossed manuscript was back in Adams’s hands, being shown to visitors.
Daniel Brent of the Department of State wrote to Stone on May 28, 1823, requesting 200 copies of the facsimile “from the engraved plate…now, in your possession, and then to deliver the plate itself to this office to be afterwards occasionally used by you, when the Department may require further supplies of copies from it.” Stone proceeded to print 201 copies on vellum, one of which he kept for himself, as was customary though perhaps not authorized in this case. Four copies presently known on heavy wove paper are most likely proofs before printing on the much more expensive vellum.
On May 26, 1824, Congress provided orders to John Quincy Adams for distribution of the Stone facsimile for distribution. The surviving three signers of the Declaration, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Charles Carroll of Carrollton, each received two copies. Two copies each were also sent to President James Monroe, Vice President Daniel D. Thompkins, former President James Madison, and the Marquis de Lafayette. The Senate and the House of Representatives split twenty copies. The various departments of government received twelve copies apiece. Two copies were sent to the President's house and to the Supreme Court chamber. The remaining copies were sent to the governors and legislatures of the states and territories, and to various universities and colleges in the United States.
All subsequent exact facsimiles of the Declaration descend from the Stone plate. One of the ways to distinguish the first edition is Stone’s original imprint, top left: “ENGRAVED by W.J. STONE for the Dept. of State by order,” and continued top right: “of J. Q. Adams, Sec of State July 4, 1823.” Sometime after Stone completed his original printing, his imprint at top was removed, and replaced with a shorter imprint at bottom left, “W. J. STONE SC WASHn,” just below George Walton’s printed signature.
William J. Stone, First “Exact” Facsimile of the Declaration Current Working Census, with Updates by Seth Kaller
Only copies from the original first edition run of 200 [actually 201, including the copy Stone kept for himself] printed on vellum, as ordered by Congress, are listed here.
Institutional:
1. Boston Public Library
2. Carroll Foundation [Descendants of Signer Charles Carroll of Carrollton]
3. Colonial Williamsburg. Deposit by Epstein, CA
4. Gilder Lehrman Collection on deposit at New-York Historical Society
5. Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village
6. Harvard University, Houghton Library
7. Indiana University, Lilly Library
8. Jefferson County Court House, Kentucky
9. Library of Congress (copy 1)
10. Library of Congress (copy 2)
11. Maryland Historical Society
12. Massachusetts Historical Society, Adams Papers (copy 1)
13. Massachusetts Historical Society, Adams Papers (copy 2)
14. New Hampshire Archives (copy 1)
15. New Hampshire Archives (copy 2)
16. New Haven Historical Society
17. Rhode Island State Archives (copy 1)
18. Rhode Island State Archives (copy 2)
19. Tennessee State Archives
20. University of Virginia. Lafayette’s copy, Albert H. Small Declaration of Independence Collection
21. Smithsonian Institution. Donated by William J. Stone family
22. Sweet Briar College
23. Virginia State Library Archives
24. The White House. Donated by William R. Coleman
25. U.S. Supreme Court. Rediscovered in late 2007
26. Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
The census was initially compiled by William R. Coleman, and published in Manuscripts, Spring 1991: “Counting the Stones: A Census of the Stone Facsimiles of the Declaration of Independence.” Coleman knew of nineteen institutional and twelve private copies. At least four formerly private copies are now on our institutional list – Gilder Lehrman Collection, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, University of Virginia, and Colonial Williamsburg.
With new discoveries and our review of auction and dealer records, we find up to 24 known in private hands. Older catalogs often did not include illustrations, so we can’t always tell if we are looking at an uncounted document or a second sale of an already listed document. We have handled 7 of the 15 copies on the market since 1989, and were thus able to eliminate many multiple sales records. It is safe to assume that some of the 24 “private copies” are still duplicate listings. In sum, approximately 45 to 50 are known to survive.
Seth Kaller June, 2010
Please contact us if you have any information on additional public or private copies of the Stone printing.
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