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The First Engraving of the Declaration of Independence - The Only Known of the 3 Ordered on Linen (SOLD)

[DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE]. BENJAMIN OWEN TYLER, Broadside on linen, engraved by Peter Maverick, [Washington, 1818], approximately 24½ x 31 in.

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“To Thomas Jefferson, Patron of the Arts, the firm Supporter of American Independence, and the Rights of Man, this Charter of Freedom is, with the highest esteem, most Respectfully Inscribed by his much Obliged and very Humble Servant Benjamin Owen Tyler.”

Benjamin Owen Tyler’s engraving was the first decorative print of the Declaration. A self-taught calligrapher and instructor of penmanship, Tyler copied and designed the text of the Declaration, and made exact copies (facsimilies) of the signatures from the engrossed manuscript. The exactness of his work is particularly impressive given the limitations of copying them freehand prior to engraving on a copper plate. Richard Rush, son of the signer Benjamin Rush and acting Secretary of State in 1817, gave a strong endorsement which is printed on the bottom left corner.

Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison, John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, John Calhoun, and Daniel Tompkins are among the many notables who ordered copies in advance.

Tyler’s subscription book was donated by Albert Small to the University of Virginia, and now can be viewed online. After extensive study, we count approximately 1650 orders for copies on paper at $5 each, and 40 for copies on vellum at $7 each. 3 noted special orders on silk, 2 of which are known to survive. Only 3 were ordered on linen, of which this is the only copy known to survive. Silk and linen copies also apparently cost $7 each. The three purchasers of premium copies on linen were John G.[?] Camp, Buffalo, N.Y., J. C. Spencer, Canandaigua, NY and John Savage, Salem, N.Y. We don’t know which of the original subscribers ours belonged to, but it does have distinguished provenance, selling in 1979 in the Nathaniel E. Stein auction at Sotheby Parke Bernet, January 30, 1979, lot 47. Stein also owned Tyler’s subscription book, lot 46.

Item #23754, SOLD — please inquire about other items

To Avoid Abuse from “bigots in religion...politics, or...medicine,” Thomas Jefferson Declines to Publish Benjamin Rush’s Private Correspondence

THOMAS JEFFERSON, Autograph Letter Signed, to James Mease. With conjoined franked address leaf in Jefferson’s hand. August 17, 1816. Monticello, [Charlottesville, Va.]. 1 p., 9¾ x 8 in.

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Thomas Jefferson, long since retired to private life, declines the request of Dr. James Mease for copies of Dr. Benjamin Rush’s correspondence with Jefferson. Mease had hoped to include them in a volume of Rush’s letters to be published and specifically requested letters pertaining to Rush’s personal views on religion and politics. After demurring, Jefferson discusses at length the differences between personal and official correspondence, with philosophical thoughts on public versus private expression. He closes with assurances that his decision is nothing personal, and of his great respect for Mease: “I hope, my dear Sir, you will see in my scruples only a sentiment of fidelity to a deceased friend.”

Item #23233, $75,000

William Pinkney, Ripped Off by the Government
for His Work on Jay’s Treaty, Declares
“I Do Not Owe The Government One Farthing”

WILLIAM PINKNEY, Autograph Letter Signed, Baltimore, January 11, 1815, to Richard Forrest.

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“I am brought in Debt upon the Treasury Books…by stopping my salary…and leaving me to maintain myself in London…while I was employed under the orders of the President in the affairs of the Maryland Bank stock…”

Item #20893, $1,500

The News in 1815: 104 Issues of the Boston Patriot

[WAR OF 1812], Newspapers. January 1815 to December 30, 1815 (Vol. XII, no. 34 - vol. XIV, no. 33). Boston, Mass., Davis C. Ballard. 104 issues, each 4 pp., 14 x 20 1/8 in. Bound in 19th-century quarter calf and marbled boards. With some column-width engraved illustrations.

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Item #20655, $4,500

“John Bull and the Baltimoreans” Lampooning British Defeat at Fort McHenry in Baltimore Following their Earlier Success at Alexandria

[WAR OF 1812]. WILLIAM CHARLES, Print. John Bull and the Baltimoreans. Satirical engraved aquatint cartoon. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania [October, 1814]. 1 p., 12½ x 9 in. Frame: 18¾ x 15 in.

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Mercy! mercy on me. What fellows those Baltimoreans are. After the example of the Alexandrians I thought I had nothing to do but enter the Town and carry off the Booty. And here is nothing but Defeat and Disgrace!!

A masterpiece of design and composition.

Item #25448, $3,400

James Monroe Defends his Actions in Futile Defense of Washington in War of 1812

JAMES MONROE, Autograph Letter Signed as Secretary of State, to [Charles Everett], Washington, D.C., September 16, 1814. 2 pp., 7½ x 10 in.

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I stand responsible for my own acts only. [Secretary of War John Armstrong] claims credit for the measures which had been taken for defense of this place. Those measures were not proposed by him but the President....

James Monroe, then Secretary of State, led a scouting expedition in August 1814 that revealed the British marching towards the nation’s capital. His warning allowed President James Madison to evacuate and save America’s founding documents. In the face of criticism, Monroe here discusses his role, trying to avoid blame for the crushing loss and destruction of the Capitol.

Item #24256, $10,000

British Lieutenant Inventories Ammunition and Ordnance Taken from Americans in Burning of Washington

[BURNING OF WASHINGTON, DC.], Thomas G. T. Williams, Copy of Manuscript Document Signed, August 25, 1814, Washington, D.C. 2 pp., 8⅛ x 13½ in.

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Royal Artillery Lieutenant Thomas G. T. Williams compiled this list of ordnance and ammunition that the British Army seized from the Americans in their march toward Washington, at the Battle of Bladensburg, and in the capture of the American capital of Washington, D.C. It also notes that Americans destroyed a great deal of ammunition and ordnance as they abandoned Washington to the British. A few days later, the British would have less success against American forces at Baltimore and Fort McHenry. Four months later, 23-year-old Williams died of yellow fever outside of New Orleans.

Item #27323.03, $2,000

Jefferson’s Autograph Notes Explaining Napier’s Rule on Spherical Triangles, a Branch of Geometry Crucial to Astronomy, Geodesy, Navigation, & Architecture

THOMAS JEFFERSON, Autograph Manuscript. Notes on Napier’s Theorem. [Monticello, Va.], [ca. March 18, 1814].

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John Napier, who is also credited with inventing logarithms and pioneering the use of the decimal point, first published his rule in 1614. While spherical trigonometry was the foundation for many scientific pursuits including astronomy, celestial navigation, geodesy (the measurement and mathematical representation of the Earth), architecture, and other disciplines, Napier’s Theorum remained largely unknown in America because of its complexity. Since it was so important to his own scholarly pursuits, Jefferson, the Sage of Monticello, was the perfect person to school a professor friend on this important, but complicated mathematical formula.

For instance, a navigator’s distance and position can be determined by “solving” spherical triangles with latitude and longitude lines—essentially very large triangles laid out on a curved surface. Astronomers apply similar principles; stargazers imagine the sky to be a vast dome of stars, with triangles laid out on curved (in this case concave) surface. The distance of stars can be calculated by the viewer, who is considered to be standing at the center (the Earth) and looking up at stars and planets as if they were hung on the inside surface of the sphere. In architecture, spherical triangles fill the corner spaces between a dome that sits on foursquare arches—called a dome on pendentives.

Item #23358, $35,000

James Madison’s Second Inaugural Address,
in a Rare New York Irish Newspaper

[JAMES MADISON], Newspaper. The Shamrock, or, Hibernian Chronicle, New York, N.Y., March 13, 1813. Madison’s second inaugural address begins on p. 2 and concludes on p. 3. 4 pp., 12 x 19 in.

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On the issue of the war are staked our national sovereignty.”

Item #30001.01, $1,000

Mexican Revolution Hero José María Morelos taunts Spanish viceroy he met in military school: any bad news is fake news, he alone resisted, and his troops “attack and “don’t leave the action until they are victorious...”

JOSÉ MARÍA MORELOS PÉREZ Y PAVÓN, Autograph Letter Signed, in Spanish, to Francisco Xavier Venegas, February 5, 1812, Cuernevaca, Mexico. 4 pp., 6 x 8 ¼ in.

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Winning 22 victories in his first nine months as military commander, José María Morelos Pérez y Pavón destroyed three Spanish royalist armies. He took over after the death of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla in 1811, and continuing his streak in southern Mexico, capturing Acapulco and Oaxaca, and getting this close to Mexico City. In this bold letter, Morelos informs the Spanish viceroy, who represented the authority of the Spanish crown in New Spain, that his forces had taken Cuernevaca, thirty-five miles south of Mexico City, and warns him not to attempt to send troops, who would only be defeated. Morelos boasts that he will soon take the rest of Mexico. He adds tauntingly that he cannot tell Venegas the day or hour when his forces will enter Mexico City. Despite rumors of his failing health, Morelos also declares that he is well-rested and in great health.

“I have taken possession of the town of Cuernavaca, do not send troops or orders because the troops will be defeated and the orders disobeyed.

I find my health much improved, thank God, and my entrance to Mexico City will be sooner than I had thought…. only out of charity am I sending this General News… because I don’t hold you to be as guilty as the others, European tyrants and sovereigns, who have gotten themselves into a briar patch out of which they will never return.

I have seen all of the gazettes and all of the parts they’ve given are false, hugely false; they have tricked you and the public, fooling you about the kingdom and fooling the public about this and that of Spain. I have read only one line of truth about the attack in Yzucar which I resisted alone…these troops in whatever number they attack don’t leave the action until they are victorious...”

In September, 1813, the National Constituent Congress he called endorsed his “Sentiments of the Nation,” considered the Declaration of Independence of Mexico. The Congress declared independence from Spain, established the Roman Catholic religion, and formulated a government. Refusing the title of “Generalissimo,” Morelos asked to be called “Servant of the Nation.”

Perhaps tired of all that winning, his military campaigns of 1814-1815 failed. Captured by Royalists, he was tried for treason and executed by firing squad in Mexico City on December 22, 1815. Now considered a national hero, he has appeared on Mexican coins and currency.

Item #25319, $15,000

James Monroe & Congress Support the Independence Movements of Spain’s American Colonies

[SOUTH AMERICA]. JAMES MONROE, Pamphlet. “Report (in Part) of the Committee on so Much of the President’s Message as Relates to the Spanish American colonies / December 10th, 1811. Read, and referred to the committee of the whole on the state of the Union.” Washington, D.C.: Printed by R. C. Weightman: 1811. 4 pp.

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[We] behold with friendly interest, the establishment of independent sovereignties, by the Spanish provinces in America…”

Item #21298, ON HOLD

Steamboat Inventor Robert Fulton and Six Other Commissioners Ask the Governor of Georgia to Support Federal Funding of the Erie Canal

ROBERT FULTON, Printed Document Signed, October 8, 1811, New York. Letter to the Governor of Georgia David Brydie Mitchell announcing the formation of what would become the Erie Canal Commission. Also signed by GOUVERNEUR MORRIS, DEWITT CLINTON, SIMEON DE WITT, WILLIAM NORTH, THOMAS EDDY and ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON. 2 pp., 10 x 15½ in. Together with: ELISHA JENKINS Document Signed as New York Secretary of State. “An Act to provide for the Improvement of the Internal Navigation of the State,” April 8, 1811, Albany, NY; certified, sealed, and signed, July 10, 1811. 1 p. with docketing, ordered to be filed, Nov. 4, 1811, 8 x 10 in.

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“this Canal … will encourage agriculture, promote commerce and manufactures, facilitate a free and general intercourse between different parts of the United States, tend to the aggrandizement and prosperity of the country, and consolidate and strengthen the Union.

Item #26559, $17,500

During Peninsular War in Europe and Rebellions in Latin America Transmitting Order of Spanish Colonial Cuban Government Restricting American Imports to Cuba

JUAN STOUGHTON, Manuscript Letter Signed, to Joseph Wilson, May 7, 1810, Boston, Massachusetts. 1 p., 8 x 12½ in.

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Item #26005, $375

Jonathan Williams - First Superintendent of West Point and First Head of the Army Corps of Engineers - Assesses New York Harbor Defenses

JONATHAN WILLIAMS, Autograph Letter Signed, to Richard Whiley, December 1, 1809, New York. 2 pp., 7¾ x 10 in.

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As Commander of the Corps of Engineers, Jonathan Williams planned and supervised the construction of New York Harbor’s defenses. In this letter to the commander of Fort Columbus on Governors Island, Williams gives a detailed report on the state of the fortifications and their capacity for additional artillery.

Item #23067.02, $1,100

Madison’s Optimistic First Message to Congress: A Prelude to the War of 1812

JAMES MADISON, Special Session Message. National Intelligencer, May 23, 1809. Broadside. Washington, D.C.: Samuel Harrison Smith. Handwritten on the verso: “Presidents Message 1809” 1 p., 10¼ x 12½ in.

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it affords me much satisfaction to be able to communicate the commencement of a favorable change in our foreign relations....

Item #30051.005, $2,400

James Madison’s First Inaugural Address, Asserting Neutral Rights in Prelude to the War of 1812

JAMES MADISON, Newspaper. The Repertory, March 14, 1809. Boston, Massachusetts: John & Andrew W. Park. 4 pp., 13¼ x 20¼ in.

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Indulging no passions which trespass on the rights or the repose of other nations, it has been the true glory of the United States to cultivate peace by observing justice, and to entitle themselves to the respect of the nations at war by fulfilling their neutral obligations with the most scrupulous impartiality.

When President Thomas Jefferson followed George Washington’s example and declined to seek a third term, he selected James Madison as his successor. Reflecting challenges within his own party, Madison won the Presidency over fellow Democratic-Republican DeWitt Clinton, who was endorsed by some state Federalist parties, by a narrow margin.

Item #30001.61, $795

Jefferson’s Proclamation on the State of Affairs with England (1807)

[THOMAS JEFFERSON], Newspaper. The Balance and Columbian Repository. Hudson, New York: Harry Croswell, July 14, 1807. 8 pp., 9½ x 11¾ in.

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This issue of The Balance and Columbian Repository features Jefferson’s proclamation regarding the British attacks on American vessels, several articles debating the President’s stance on the matter, an article about Aaron Burr’s trial, toasts given in honor of Independence Day, and an address to the Medical Society of Columbia County.

Item #30000.66, $350

[Thomas Jefferson]. 1807 Acts of Congress, Including Law Abolishing Slave Trade, the Insurrection Act, and Lewis & Clark Content. First Edition.

[CONGRESS], Acts Passed at the Second Session of the Ninth Congress of the United States (Washington, D.C.: n.p., 1807). 134 pp. (219-352), 6 x 9 in. Includes table of contents (iv pp.) for this session, and index (29 pp.) and title page for entire volume at end.

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it shall not be lawful to import or bring into the United States...any negro, mulatto, or person of color, with intent to hold, sell, or dispose of such negro, mulatto, or person of color, as a slave.

Item #23963, $4,500

Father of the Erie Canal and Future Governor DeWitt Clinton’s Copy of New York City Ordinances

DEWITT CLINTON, Signed Book. Laws and Ordinances, Ordained and Established by the Mayor, Aldermen, and Commonalty of the City of New-York, in Common Council Convened, for the Good Rule and Government of the Inhabitants and Residents of the Said City. Passed and published the 17th day of January, 1805. In the Mayoralty of DeWitt Clinton. First Edition. New York: James Cheetham, 1805. DeWitt Clinton’s ownership signature on title page. 160 pp., 7¾ x 4½ in.

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During the second of his ten terms as mayor of New York City, Clinton signs his copy of the ordinances for governing the city at the top of the title page.

Item #23636, SOLD — please inquire about other items

Rare “Address to the People of the State of Connecticut,” the Report of Delegates from 97 Towns Who Met to Call for a Democratic Non-Theocratic State Constitution

[CONNECTICUT], “Address to the People of the State of Connecticut,” broadsheet, August 29, 1804, New Haven, CT. Signed in type by William Judd, Chairman. 2 pp., 10½ x 18 in.

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An important document in American constitutional and religious history.

“Excellent as may appear the government of Connecticut to those, who have administered it… yet to us… it has been and is an unequal government, constantly tending to the increase of aristocracies and to the consequent humiliation of men and principles, friendly to our revolution. The government is indeed good for those, who have enjoyed all power and privileges under it…”

Three months earlier, Abraham Bishop gave an oration celebrating the re-election of President Jefferson. In it, he argued that the Declaration of Independence made the 1662 Royal Charter void, and that Connecticut’s General Assembly had “usurped the rights of the people” by preventing the passage of a State Constitution. “Thus all the abuses inflicted on us when subjects of a crown, were fastened on us anew... We still suffer from the old restrictions on the right to vote; we are still ruled by the whims of seven men…. Not only do they make laws, but they plead before justices of their own appointment, and … interpret the laws of their own making…. Is this an instrument of government for freemen?... We demand a constitution…”

On August 29, 1804, responding to Bishop’s call for a gathering in New-Haven to discuss replacing King Charles II’s Charter, delegates from 97 towns met, and adopted and ordered the printing of this Address. The Federalist-Congregationalist governing party reacted by warning that everyone should fear these radical Jeffersonian Democratic Republican underminers of all religion. “All the friends of stable government [should] support the Standing Order,”they said, as the five state justices who attended the meeting, including its chairman, were fired.  

The harsh reaction of Church and State government actually proved the point of the Address. But it still took the War of 1812, the trial of journalists and other political enemies by partisan judges, culture wars as the officially established Congregational church become more fundamentalist (ie, a “Society for the Suppression of Vice and the Promotion of Good Morals,” ultimately causing many members to fly from the church of eternal damnation to less Calvinist denominations), the foundation of a Toleration Party that voted with Republicans, the collapse of the national Federalist Party, and the “Revolution of 1817” before succeeding. Fourteen years after this Address, a new Constitution that dis-established the Congregational Church and created separate executive, legislative and judicial branches in the “Constitution State.”

Item #26603.99, $7,500
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