A broadside of the Declaration of Independence printed in Boston between July 12 and 16, 1776, sold for $693,500 at Skinner’s November 18 books and manuscripts sale.
The document was printed by John Gill and Powers and Willis in Boston and the price is a record for such an example for a printer other than John Dunlap of Philadelphia. Department head Stuart Whitehurst said that the last Boston broadside by the same printers sold in 1990 for $85,000. Another example with a different imprint sold at Julia’s for $90,000 in 1999.
The most recent example came from a central Massachusetts historical society and went to New York dealer Seth Kaller in town for the Boston Antiquarian Book Fair.
A complete review of this sale will appear in a future issue. ‼i>Fran Mascolo.