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By 1820, the original Declaration of Independence, now housed at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., already showed signs of age and wear from handling. John Quincy Adams, then Secretary of State, commissioned William J. Stone to engrave a facsimile–an exact copy–on a copper plate.
“In Congress, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America.”
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
Copperplate Engraving Printed on thin wove paper. Imprint at bottom left
“W. J. STONE SC. WASHN” Washington, D.C.: William J. Stone for Peter Force, ca. 1833. Engraved by William J. Stone (1823-1825); reprinted in 1833 from the original copperplate, for Peter Force’s
American Archives, Series 5, Vol. I [traditionally misdated 1848]. 1 p., 25¾ x 29¼ in. Framed to 34¼ x 39-1/2.
Inventory #27930
Price: $40,000
A bright copy of Peter Force’s 1833 printing of the Declaration of Independence, from W. J. Stone’s 1823 plate.
In 1823, with the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence approaching, Congress commissioned Stone to produce a high-quality, actual-size replica of the original engrossed Declaration. Stone carefully copied the signatures of each of the 56 delegates. Stone spent two years perfecting the plate, and after he had printed the 200 copies ordered, his original engraved plate remained with the Department of State. A decade later, historian and Washington mayor Peter Force conceived a massive 20-volume anthology entitled American Archives, containing copies of key letters, documents, and broadsides from the Revolutionary War. Congress agreed to fund an edition of 1,500 sets. For the project, Force arranged with the State Department to print 4,000 copies of the Declaration, from Stone’s original copperplate, on fine, wove paper. Stone’s imprint was neatly burnished out at the top of the plate and a discreet “W. J. STONE SC[ULPSIT]. WASHN” was added in the lower left quadrant.
Historical Background
America emerged from the War of 1812 truly independent. The country had survived its second conflict with Great Britain, and the Louisiana Purchase had doubled the nation’s size. Tested in war and peace, the U.S. was on the verge of enormous physical, political, and economic expansion. This optimistic time was widely known as the “Era of Good Feelings.” As the 50th anniversary of independence approached, a new generation sought connections to our nation’s founding. The Declaration of Independence, with its not-yet-famous signatures, was about to become iconic.
In 1820, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams obtained the approval of Congress to commission William J. Stone to engrave a facsimile—an “exact” copy—on a copper plate. Stone held the original document for more than two years, and expertly engraved it by hand. In 1824, Congress ordered 200 official copies printed on vellum, which were distributed by John Quincy Adams to former presidents and vice presidents, state governors, educational institutions, the Marquis de Lafayette, and the three surviving signers (John Adams, Charles Carroll, and Thomas Jefferson), among others. Just over a quarter of Stone’s vellum first editions are known to survive; most are in or destined for museums and libraries. The “Force” printing is the second William J. Stone edition. Prior descriptions date the “Force” printing to 1848, based on the publication of his American Archives: A Documentary History of the United States of America, Series 5, Volume I, with the Declaration facsimile folded in. However, we found that Peter Force had already procured the Declaration facsimiles 15 years earlier, when Congress authorized the American Archives project, and the State Department signed a contract for 1,500 copies. On July 21, 1833, the original engraver, William J. Stone, invoiced Force for 4,000 copies of the Declaration. After mounting expenses and increasing delays in producing Series 4, by 1843, when Force received Congressional re-authorization, he had scaled back his subscription plan to 500 sets. The full number of Declaration facsimiles, however, had long been printed and were waiting to be inserted into the books.
In the 20th century, as the condition of the engrossed original deteriorated, Stone was accused of having used a “wet” or chemical process to lift and transfer ink from the original parchment to guide the engraving. On the contrary, we believe there is sufficient evidence that he did not.
Very little of the original engrossed manuscript of the Declaration is legible today. The rare Stone first edition on vellum, and this Stone/Force second edition, remain the best representations of the Declaration as the parchment originally looked.
William J. Stone (1798-1865) was born in London and brought to America as a child in 1804. After studying engraving with Peter Maverick in New York, he established a business in Washington, D.C. in 1815. He did much work for the federal government, and in 1820, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams commissioned Stone to make an exact facsimile of the Declaration of Independence. In July 1823, Stone printed 201 copies on vellum for distribution to political leaders and educational institutions. Stone also received a patent for a printer’s inking apparatus in 1829. Stone continued to work as a printer and engraver in Washington for the rest of his career, and he became one of Washington’s wealthiest citizens, with $157,000 in real property in 1860. Stone was an officer in the Agricultural Society of the United States and a founding member (with Peter Force) of the National Institute for the Promotion of Science. During the Civil War, the Army constructed a hospital on his farm. In 1821, Stone married Elizabeth Jane Lenthall (1804-1892) and she also became an engraver, specializing in maps. They had at least four children.
Peter Force (1790-1868) was born near Passaic Falls, New Jersey, to a Revolutionary War veteran and his wife. Force moved to New York City, where he learned the printing trade and joined the printers’ trade union, of which he served as president from 1812 to 1815. During the War of 1812, Force served in the army, rising to the rank of lieutenant. At the end of the war, he moved to Washington, D.C., and worked for public printer William A. Davis. In 1822, Force received a patent for a method of color printing. He founded and published the National Journal from 1823 to 1830. He supported John Quincy Adams for president in 1824 and served as mayor of Washington from 1836 to 1840. His primary achievements were as a collector and editor of historical documents. He published a series of rare pamphlets in four volumes between 1836 and 1846. From 1837 to 1853, Force published nine volumes of his American Archives: A Documentary History of the United States, under the authority of Congress and the sponsorship of the State Department. The seventh volume included a precise facsimile engraving of the Declaration of Independence by William J. Stone. Force had planned to compile twenty volumes to cover from colonial origins to 1789, but Congress canceled the project in 1853. His compilation is an essential source for the history of the United States between 1774 and 1776. In 1867, Congress purchased Force’s collection of original documents for $100,000 and added them to the collections of the Library of Congress.
Condition: Professionally conserved.
