Beschreibung:

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...[etc.] Washington: Department of State, 4 July 1823. Folio broadside, 790 x 652mm. (31.1/8 x 25 in.), PRINTED ON FINE PARCHMENT, minor surface soiling and slight abrasion, a few neat patches to parchment in lower left-hand corner, affecting a few letters of engraved text, two short marginal tears repaired. Archivally matted in a large gilt-wood frame. ONE OF ABOUT 30 SURVIVING COPIES OF THE STONE ENGRAVED FACSIMILE OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, THE MOST ACCURATE AND THE ONLY OFFICIAL FACSIMILE OF THE HISTORIC DOCUMENT A very good, amply-margined copy of Stone's meticulously traced and engraved facsimile of America's founding document, the most accurate of existing facsimiles and the only facsimile officially authorized by Congress. In 1820--forty-four years after the Declaration of Independence was adopted by Congress and signed in Philadelphia by 56 delegates--Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, son of a Signer, commissioned William J. Stone to execute a full-scale facsimile of the historic document, the original of which had already suffered fading and wear during the years since 1776. The engraving of the actual-size copperplate, it is reported, took Stone a full three years. On January 2, 1823, Adams formally notified the Senate that 200 copies had been printed on fine parchment similar to that of the original. Congress, in its Resolution of 26 May, directed that these be distributed to honor the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The President (James Monroe) and Vice-President were each to receive two copies, two more copies were to go to former President, James Madison, twenty copies to the two houses of Congress, two copies to each surviving Signer (Jefferson, Adams and Charles Carroll), and two copies to the Marquis de Lafayette, who was shortly to visit the country whose independence he had helped to secure (one of Lafayette's copies was sold at Christie's, 22 November 1985, lot 194, $42,000). Because Congress specified that many of the copies should be given to colleges and libraries, few are today in private hands. Coleman, in 1991, counted 31 surviving copies, of which 19 were in institutions and twelve privately owned. J. Bidwell, "Some Broadside Editions of the Declaration of Independence," in Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society , vol.98, 7.; W.R. Coleman, "Counting the Stones--A Census of the Stone Facismiles of the Declaration of Independence," Manuscripts , vol.43, no.2, pp.97-105. Exhibited: "The Art of Independence," June 28-September 14, 1997, Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon.