Beschreibung:

TYLER, BENJAMIN OWEN, PUBLISHER, and MAVERICK, PETER, ENGRAVER. In Congress, July 4th 1776. The Unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America. Washington: Benjamin Owen Tyler, 1818. Engraved broadside, 800 x 650 mm. Browning, a few stains and creases, 100 mm tear at top with repair. Archivally matted. THE EARLIEST PRINTED FACSIMILE of the Declaration of Independence, the founding document of the United States of America. Appearing on the market one year ahead of John Binns' facsimile, Tyler and Maverick's version with its finely engraved calligraphy and ornamented header stated that it was "Copied from the original ... in the Department of State and Published by Benjamin Owen Tyler, Professor of Penmanship...." It also included an endorsement from Secretary of State Benjamin Rush at the lower left. In the wake of the War of 1812, Americans felt a groundswell of patriotism, and the aging founding fathers and their legacy achieved greater reverence in the public consciousness. Tyler's order book, now in the Albert H. Small collection at the University of Virginia, bears the signatures of the first purchaser's of Tyler's work, including John Adams Thomas Jefferson James Madison, John Quincy Adams, and others. John Adams upon receiving his copy, wrote to Tyler that it was "elegantly and exquisitely executed...."