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Delivering Dunlap Declaration of Independence Broadsides in July 1776
[DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE],
Owen Biddle. Manuscript Document Signed as member of the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety, July 10, 1776, Philadelphia. Ordering John Nixon of the Committee of Accounts to pay Michael Kuhn “£11..12..6” for his couriers to deliver copies of the Declaration of Independence (Dunlap broadsides) to Chester, Lancaster and Bucks counties, and Potts Grove (in Northumberland County). Docketed on verso. 1 p., 8¼ x 5⅛ in.
A unique document related to the distribution by courier of Dunlap Declaration of Independence broadsides. John Nixon, to whom this document is directed for payment, was the first person to read the Declaration publicly, on Monday, July 8, before a large crowd in Philadelphia at the State House Yard. He went on to become one of the founders of the Bank of North America, established in 1783.
The Dunlap Declaration that I bought and sold for a couple of million dollars in 1995 is now worth $40 million or more. What will this Pay Order be worth to the buyer of the next one?
Item #27470, SOLD — please inquire about other items
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Golda Meir Invites an American Semiconductor Pioneer to an Israeli Economic Conference
GOLDA MEIR,
Typed Letter Signed as Prime Minister, to Albert Soffa. Jerusalem, May 29, 1969. 2 pp. 8½ x 11 in. On Israeli Prime Minister letterhead.
Item #23283, $2,400
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Israel’s Declaration of Independence—May 1948
[Israeli Declaration of Independence],
Newspaper. Yom ha-Medinah. Jerusalem, May 14, 1948. In Hebrew. 2 pp. 16½ x 22 in., framed to 23½ x 29½ in.
“The General Assembly of the United Nations passed a resolution authorizing the establishment of a Jewish state . . . by reason of our natural and historic right, we hereby proclaim the establishment of...the State of Israel.”
Item #25671.05, SOLD — please inquire about other items
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John Binns’ Scarce & Most Decorative Early Declaration of Independence Facsimile (1819)
[DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE],
Engraved Broadside. “In Congress July 4th. 1776. The Unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America.” [Philadelphia:] John Binns, 1819. Text designed and engraved by Charles H. Parker, facsimiles of signatures engraved by John Vallance of the firm of Tanner, Vallance, Kearny & Co. Ornamental border, drawn by George Bridport, incorporated the seals of the thirteen original states after Thomas Sully, engraved by George Murray. Medallion portraits of Washington (after Gilbert Stuart, 1795), Jefferson (after Bass Otis, 1816), and Hancock (after John Singleton Copley, 1765), were engraved by James Barton Longacre. Printed by James Porter. 27½ x 36 in.
Historical Background
In 1816, the publisher John Binns was the first to announce plans to publish a decorative broadside of the Declaration of Independence, to be sold by subscription for $10 each. The project was completed in 1819, by which time four others had already imitated the idea and issued less ornate and less expensive copies, including a pirated copy of the Binns. Binns later said that his publication cost him $9,000, an astonishing amount at that time.
In a prospectus accompanying an incomplete state of the print submitted for copyright on November 4, 1818, Binns describes the work: “The Design in imitation of Bas Relief, will encircle the Declaration as a cordon of honor, surmounted by the Arms of the United States. Immediately underneath the arms, will be a large medallion portrait of General George Washington, supported by cornucopias, and embellished with spears, flags, and other Military trophies and emblems. On the one side of this medallion portrait, will be a similar portrait of John Hancock,...and on the other, a portrait of Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence. The arms of ‘The Thirteen United States’ in medallion, united by wreaths of olive leaves, will form the remainder of the cordon, which will be further enriched by some of the characteristic productions of the United States; such as the Tobacco and Indigo plants, the Cotton Shrub, Rice &c. The facsimiles will be engraved by Mr. Vallance, who will execute the important part of the publication at the City of Washington, where, by permission of the Secretary of State, he will have the original signatures constantly under his eye.”
The Binns broadside bears an engraved facsimile attestation to the accuracy of the document by John Quincy Adams, then Secretary of State, from April 19, 1819: “I certify, that this is a Correct copy of the original Declaration of Independence, deposited at this Department; and that I have compared all the signatures with those of the original, and have found them Exact Imitations.”
Despite the competition, Binns’ print remains the best decorative reproduction of the Declaration of Independence. Binns wanted to have his copy adopted as official, and one was displayed in the House of Representatives. For political reasons—and perhaps because Binns failed to include an engraving of John Adams—John Quincy Adams soon after commissioned William J. Stone to make an exact facsimile in 1823.
The Library Company of Philadelphia owns the original copper printing plate for this print.
Item #27257, SOLD — please inquire about other items
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Theodore Roosevelt, Furious with Cuba's "Pointless" 1906 Revolution
THEODORE ROOSEVELT,
Typed Letter Signed, to Henry White, September 13, 1906, Oyster Bay, New York. Autograph Endorsement as Postscript. On “The White House” letterhead. 3 pp., 8 x 10¼ in.
“Just at the moment I am so angry with that infernal little Cuban republic that I would like to wipe its people off the face of the earth. All we have wanted from them was that they would behave themselves and be prosperous and happy … they have started an utterly unjustifiable and pointless revolution and may get things into such a snarl that we have no alternative save to intervene - which will at once convince the suspicious idiots in South America that we do wish to interfere after all, and perhaps have some land-hunger!...”
This “Confidential” letter brims with significant content, as Roosevelt comments on hunting, disarmament, the Cuban Revolution, and the American voter. He expressed particular frustration at the inability of the new Cuban Republic to maintain a legitimate democracy. In September 1905, candidate Tomás Estrada Palma and his party rigged the Cuban presidential election to ensure his victory over liberal candidate José Miguel Gómez. The liberals revolted in August 1906, leading to the collapse of Estrada Palma’s government the following month, and to U.S. military and political intervention.
Item #27311, $12,500
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Anthony C. McAuliffe Writes Amidst Tests of Atomic Bombs at Bikini Atoll in 1946
ANTHONY C. McAULIFFE,
Typed Letter Signed, to Ashley T. Cole, July 11, 1946, USS Mt. McKinley, Fleet Postoffice, San Francisco, California; on “Joint Task Force One” stationery. 1 p., 8 x 10½ in.
In this brief letter, General A. C. McAuliffe agrees to inscribe a copy of a unit history of the 103rd Infantry Division for the New York attorney and autograph collector Ashley T. Cole after he returns to Washington from atomic tests in the Pacific Ocean. This letter was written between the test denotations of the fourth and fifth atomic bombs ever exploded.
Unit historians Ralph Mueller and Jerry Turk wrote Report after Action: The Story of the 103rd Infantry Division with illustrations by artist Bill Barker, and it was published in 1945. Because McAuliffe led the 103rd through the end of the war in Europe, Cole wanted to get his autograph on the brief volume.
Item #26778, $750
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George Washington’s Famous Letter to American Roman Catholics: A Message of Thankfulness, Patriotism, and Inclusiveness
[GEORGE WASHINGTON],
“Letter to the Roman Catholics in America,” ca. March 15, 1790, New York. Printed on the first page of The Providence Gazette and Country Journal, April 10, 1790. Providence, Rhode Island: John Carter. 4 pp., 10⅛ x 15⅜ in.
“The prospect of national prosperity now before us is truly animating, and ought to excite the exertions of all good men to establish and secure the happiness of their country, in the permanent duration of its freedom and independence. America, under the smiles of a Divine Providence—the protection of a good government, and the cultivation of manners, morals and piety, cannot fail of attaining an uncommon degree of eminence, in literature, commerce, agriculture, improvements at home, and respectability abroad.
As mankind become more liberal, they will be more apt to allow, that all those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the community, are equally entitled to the protection of civil government. I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations in examples of justice and liberality.”
Item #24985.99, $14,500
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George Washington: Rare 1777 Revolutionary War Hand Colored Engraving
[GEORGE WASHINGTON],
Print. With captions in English and French: “George Washington Eqer General and Commander en Chief of the Continental Army in America . . . d’Apres l’Original de Champbell [sic] Peintre de Williambourg Capitale de la Virginie.” Likely published in Paris, ca. 1777 to 1780. 1 p. 7.75 x 11.75 in. in a wooden frame 10 x 14.5 in.
Lovely condition, drum-mounted on board, original full hand-coloring. Framed. Line engraving derived from the portrait done by “Alexander Campbell” with facial elements after the Nuremberg version of the print. This enjoys the independent addition of battle flags placed within the image to flank the portrait.
Item #27113, $12,500
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Same-Day Broadside Extra Printing of Abraham Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address
ABRAHAM LINCOLN,
Inaugural Address. Chicago Tribune Extra, March 4, 1861. Chicago: Joseph Medill, Charles H. Ray, Alfred Cowles. 1 p., 8½ x 24 in.
“In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressor. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to preserve, protect and defend it.”
“The mystic chords of memory stretching from every battle field and patriot’s grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union when again touched, as surely as they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”
Extremely rare same day broadside. Only one other copy of this edition is presently known.
Item #26966, SOLD — please inquire about other items
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16 x 20 Inch Photograph of St. Augustine, Florida, African American Cart Driver
[FLORIDA],
George Barker, Albumen Print of African American cart driver at City Gate, St. Augustine, Florida, ca. 1889. On original mount, with photographer’s Niagara Falls backstamp. 1 p., 16 x 20 in.
Canadian photographer George Barker was one of the first professional photographers to visit Florida. In the late 1880s, he documented the landscapes and people of northern and central Florida. Barker took this large-format photograph of an African American cartman at the city gate of St. Augustine.
Item #24249, $1,000
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Congressmen Who Signed Thirteenth Amendment Abolishing Slavery
[THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT],
Photomontage of the Congressional supporters of the Thirteenth Amendment, which ended slavery in the United States. Composite oval albumen photograph, 13¾ x 16 in., credited in negative, on the original mount, 18⅛ x 20¼ in. New York: G. M. Powell and Co., 1865. Manuscript annotation on verso: “George May Powell / Great National Picture / Photograph of Members of United States House of Representatives and the Senate who voted Aye on Resolution to amend the Constitution of the United States so as to prohibit slavery. Passed Senate April 1864. Passed House of Representatives January 1866 [1865]. Abraham Lincoln – president.”
“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude,...shall exist within the United States....”
Item #27106, $1,950
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Hamilton Seeks Information from Pennsylvania Loan Officer for Report to Senate
ALEXANDER HAMILTON,
Manuscript Letter Signed, to Thomas Smith, September 10, 1792, [Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]. 1 p., 7¾ x 9⅛ in.
With this circular letter, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton requests financial information to respond to an order from the U.S. Senate. This copy went to Commissioner of Loans for Pennsylvania Thomas Smith. Hamilton submitted the report titled “List of Civil Officers of the United States, Except Judges, with Their Emoluments, for the Year Ending October 1, 1792” to the Senate on February 27, 1793.
Item #27441, SOLD — please inquire about other items
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Hamilton LS to Bank of New York Advising That Collectors Will No Longer Receive Its Notes
ALEXANDER HAMILTON,
Manuscript Letter Signed, to President Gulian Verplanck and Directors of the Bank of New York, April 15, 1793, [Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]. 1 p., 7¼ x 8⅞ in.
Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton informs President Gulian Verplanck (1751-1799) and the directors of the Bank of New York, an institution he helped to found in 1784, that collectors of three New York and New Jersey ports would no longer receive their bank’s notes in exchange for specie. Those port collectors were John Lamb (1735-1800) of New York City; Henry Packer Dering (1763-1822) of Sag Harbor, on Long Island, New York; and John Halstead (1729-1813) of Perth Amboy, New Jersey.
Item #27438, $19,000
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Hamilton Serves as Surety for Loan to Fellow Attorney and Second in His Duel with Burr
ALEXANDER HAMILTON,
Manuscript Document Signed, Bond, Receipts, Deed, Release of Deed, Widow’s Relinquishment, June 5, 1802–March 24, 1807. 6 pp., 8 x 13 in.
This compound legal document features the signatures of Alexander Hamilton, Elizabeth Hamilton, two of their sons, and the executors of his will. In June 1802, Alexander Hamilton became one of two sureties for a bond that Nathaniel Pendleton gave to John E. LeConte to ensure the repayment of $6,000 that LeConte loaned to Pendleton. To secure their support as sureties, Pendleton conveyed 4,000 acres of land in Ohio and Clinton County, New York, to Hamilton and the other surety. Pendleton made regular payments of interest and principal to LeConte and completed the repayment by June 1806. In March 1807, Hamilton’s executors (including Pendleton) reconveyed the land to Pendleton, and Elizabeth Hamilton relinquished her dower rights. Her sons James A. Hamilton and John C. Hamilton signed the relinquishment as witnesses.
Item #27210, $18,000
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Alexander Hamilton Writes to His Beloved Wife, Eliza, About the Deteriorating Health of Her Younger Sister, Peggy
ALEXANDER HAMILTON,
Autograph Letter Signed “A.H.”, Albany, Tuesday, Feb(ruary) 25, 1801 to Elizabeth (“Eliza”) Schuyler Hamilton, regarding the deteriorating health of her sister, Margarita “Peggy” Schuyler Van Rensselaer. One sheet folded to make four pages, 5 x 7-3/4 in. Addressed on integral leaf in Hamilton’s hand: “Mrs. Hamilton/No. 26 Broadway/New York”, wax seal partially intact on same; further docketed at bottom by Hamilton, “Mrs. H.”
“My Dear Eliza/Your sister Peggy has gradually grown worse & it is now in a situation that her dissolution in the opinion of the Doctor is not likely to be long delayed. The L. Governor sends the bearer to bring home his Child--I have not time to add more
Adieu my Eliza A.H.”
Item #27110, $20,000
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Calvin Coolidge Appoints Trustee of the National Training School for Girls
CALVIN COOLIDGE,
Partially Printed Document Signed, April 18, 1925, Washington, DC. Appointment of Mrs. Otto L. Veerhoff as Trustee of the National Training School for Girls. Countersigned by U.S. Attorney General John G. Sargent (1860-1939); includes a “Department of Justice” red embossed seal. 1 p., 10½ x 16 in.
President Calvin Coolidge reappoints Amy Louise Veerhoff as a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Training School for Girls. Originally appointed by President Warren G. Harding, Veerhoff served as president of the Board of Trustees for several years.
Item #26525, $1,500
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Senator Sprague of Rhode Island Writes About Fascinating Debates in Congress Involving Freedom for the Families of African American Recruits and the Limits of Free Speech in the Senate
[AFRICAN AMERICAN SOLDIERS],
William Sprague, Autograph Letter Signed, to William D. Ely, January 28, 1864, Washington, D.C. 2 pp., 5 x 8 in.
“a discussion upon a section of a Malitia bill freeing the wife & children of the slave that enlist will occupy most if not all the day.”
Item #26531, $1,250
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President Franklin D. Roosevelt Thanks for a “Heartening” Telegram Received September 27, While FDR was Trying to Prevent Hitler from Starting War
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT,
Typed Letter Signed, to Frederic R. Coudert Jr., September 28, 1938, Washington, D.C. On White House stationery. 1 p., 7 x 9 in.
“Please accept sincerest thanks for your telegram of September twenty-seventh. It is heartening and I appreciate much your sending it.”
FDR thanks Republican New York City attorney Frederick R. Coudert Jr. for a telegram received a day earlier, September 27, 1938. On that date, in response to Hitler’s threat to annex the western third of Czechoslovakia, known as the Sudetenland, Roosevelt sent a message urging German Chancellor Adolf Hitler to avoid the “incalculable disaster which would result to the entire world from the outbreak of European war” and “the mutilation and death of millions of citizens.”
Item #27516, $1,250
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Lucy Stone Promotes Bazaar to Suffragist Who Later Led Effort for Women’s Suffrage in Hawaii
LUCY STONE,
Autograph Letter Signed, to [Almira Hollander] Pitman, June 27, 1887, Boston, Massachusetts. On Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association letterhead. 1 p., 5½ x 8½ in.
“We hope you will be able to be ‘one with us’ in the bazar.”
Item #26792, $1,400
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Lucy Stone Thanks Suffragist Who Later Led Effort for Women’s Suffrage in Hawaii for Donation
LUCY STONE,
Autograph Letter Signed, to [Almira Hollander] Pitman, July 7, 1893, Boston, Massachusetts. On Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association letterhead. 2 pp., 5½ x 8½ in.
In this personal letter written months before her death, Lucy Stone thanks Almira Pitman for a donation of $5, congratulates her on the birth of another child, reminisces about Pitman’s mother, and speaks of her own child.
Item #26791, $1,800
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