NEW YORK CITY — A rare July 1776 broadside printing of the Declaration of Independence by Ezekiel Russell of Salem, Massachusetts-Bay—the colony’s authorized edition—which was sent to an Ipswich, Mass., pastor to be read to his congregation, sold for $514,000 at Heritage Auction’s sale of historical manuscripts held at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel April 5. The low estimate was $200,000; the bidding opened at $160,000, and progressed in $10,000 and $20,000 increments to the final price, which includes the buyer’s premium. The winning buyer was a leading Wall Street figure who wishes to remain anonymous.
The broadside is one of few surviving specimens created by Ezekiel Russell (1743-1798), a Boston-born printer. “The earliest broadside printings of the Declaration, of which this is one, were ephemeral in nature and extremely few have survived to this day,” said Sandra Palomino, director of historical manuscripts at Heritage Auctions. “This document was printed within days of the founding of the United States and has survived almost 250 years since that time. It’s an extraordinary thing.”
Once the text of the Declaration was ratified July 4, 1776, the fledgling Congress issued it to be read to the public throughout the colonies. The first printing was a broadside printed in Philadelphia by John Dunlap on the evening of July 4, 1776, likely copied from a handwritten version by Thomas Jefferson. Throughout the next several weeks, additional versions were printed as broadsides, in books, and published in newspapers.
On July 17, 1776, the Massachusetts Bay Council resolved to order an official printing. This Salem broadside text, notably, was signed in type by only two at the close: “Signed by Order and in Behalf of the Congress, John Hancock, President. Attest, Charles Thompson [sic], Secretary.” The later version is, of course, famously signed by 56 delegates.
A complete review of this auction will appear in a future issue.
