Copperplate engraving originally being an insert bound into Peter Force's AMERICAN ARCHIVES: FIFTH SERIES CONTAINING A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, FROM THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, JULY 4, 1776, TO THE DEFINITIVE TREATY OF PEACE WITH GREAT BRITAIN, SEPTEMBER 3, 1783 (Washington, D. C. : M. St. Clair Clarke and Peter Force, 1848), printed on rice paper and credited "W. J. Stone SC. Washn" in small type beneath the Georgia signatures along the lower left margin.

The Peter Force Declaration of Independence facsimile is the earliest Declaration imprint generally seen on the market. It was produced under Congressional authority using William J. Stone's 1820 plate derived from the original Declaration. Only a few hundred copies were made by Force, with few surviving.

Presented in a custom wooden frame.

Sheet approximately 29 5/8 x 25 9/16 in.; DOA 35.75 x 31in.

Overall toning; ghostly ink transfer throughout from decades of being folded; a few trivial spots; light browning along the upper edge; archival tape repairs to a 3 in. split in upper margin and a 1.5 in. split to the lower right edge, neither affecting the text.

$8,000 - 12,000