[Americana] Binns, John. Declaration of Independence

(Philadelphia): Printed by James Porter, 1819. Engraved broadside, by George Murray, C.H. Parker, J.B. Longacre, after Johns Binns, George Bridport, Thomas Sully, Gilbert Stuart, Bass Otis, and John Singleton Copley. 35 1/4 x 25 1/2 in. (895 x 648 mm). Mounted to board; sheet toned; wear and along edges. In a fine and large carved contemporary frame, 43 1/4 x 34 in. (1,099 x 864 mm). Bidwell 5

A scarce example of John Binns's highly decorative printing of the Declaration of Independence, one of the earliest and most faithful facsimiles of America's founding document.

Following the War of 1812, a sense of national unity and political harmony swept the country. Binns, an Irish-born Philadelphia journalist and publisher of the Republican Philadelphia newspaper The Democratic Review, saw in this moment a chance to capitalize on this patriotic sentiment, and in 1816 began taking subscriptions for a decorative facsimile print of the Declaration of Independence. Although he declared that he would have the print ready in only a year, the magnitude of the undertaking delayed its completion until 1819. By that time, another printer, Benjamin Owen Tyler, had already published his own, cheaper, and less elaborate facsimile print in 1818. Despite this, Binns's print has since been justly regarded as the best decorative reproduction of the Declaration, and one that appropriately symbolizes a period of an emerging American nationalism.

This lot is located in Philadelphia.