Beschreibung:

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE]. The Massachusetts Spy, Or, American Oracle of Liberty. “Undaunted by Tyrants we’ll Die or be Free.” Vol VI, Number 273. Worcester: Printed by W. Stearns and D. Bigelow 17 July 1776.
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE]. The Massachusetts Spy, Or, American Oracle of Liberty. “Undaunted by Tyrants we’ll Die or be Free.” Vol VI, Number 273. Worcester: Printed by W. Stearns and D. Bigelow 17 July 1776. Folio, 4pp. (14.2/8 x 9 ½ in). Elaborate woodcut heading (scrollwork and a small seated figure of Liberty holding a Phrygian cap on a pike), printed in three columns. (Removed from a bound volume, with minor marginal chipping and a few marginal punctures, not affecting text). Blue morocco gilt folding case. Provenance : Samuel Burdige, probably a contemporary subscriber, ink signature at top margin of page 1). FIRST WORCESTER PRINTING OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE The Massachusetts Spy was a continuation of a paper first published in Boston by Isaiah Thomas in 1770 in partnership with Zachariah Fowle; from its inception it gave outspoken support for the burgeoning American patriotic cause. In the wake of the Lexington and Concord alarm Thomas was obliged to leave Boston and relocate his press to Worcester. His first issue from that place was dated 3 May 1775, and publication continued until the British troops evacuated Boston. Thomas then leased the paper to W. Stearns and Bigelow, the printers of the present issue. The complete text of the Declaration of Independence occupies the first two and a half columns on the first page. The wide-ranging texts feature reports on other several resolutions of the Continental Congress, including one under the signature of John Hancock (an act urging the state legislators to support the Declaration of Independence), another from Williamsburg (seeking lead bullets and other arms), Watertown (calling for entrenching tools), New York (describing preparations for an impending British attack), and an announcement by the President and Fellows of Harvard cancelling this year’s public commencement.