LIMITED EDITION LETTERPRESS FACSIMILE REPLICA OF MARY CATHERINE GODDARD'S 1777 PRINTING OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 

In Congress, July 4, 1776. The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen united States of America. Limited edition facsimile letterpress broadside on handmade paper by Katie MacGregor. New York: Intima Press, Mary Belloff, 2010. 

1 page, 15 7/8 x 21 1/4 in. LIMITED EDITION, LIMITED TO 100 COPIES. With letterpress sheet in blue and red ink. Original cardstock folio. 

Artist Mindy Belloff (b. 1963) of the Intima Press meticulously researched Goddard's printing. She hand-set the Carlson typeface and composed the broadside as closely as possible to the original. 

Accompanying the broadside is an additional broadside with an introduction to the project by Declaration scholar and Harvard University professor, David Armitage, followed by a history of the project by Belloff. Providing information on the Declaration, Goddard's printing, and her own interest in the document. 

Mary Katharine Goddard (1738-1816) was born to a wealthy and well-educated family in New England. Her father, Giles, was a physician and also the postmaster of New London, Connecticut. When he became ill in 1755, his wife (Mary's mother), Sarah Updike Goddard (ca 1701-1770) took over his duties as postmaster. After his death, Sara moved the family to Providence, Rhode Island, and in 1762, she financed the establishment of a print shop and associated weekly newspaper, The Providence Gazette and Country Journal. Though the operation was headed by her son William (1740-1817), Sarah and Mary Katharine both worked in the shop. In 1765, William suspended publication and moved to Philadelphia, and Sarah and Mary Katharine took over the shop. They revived printing of the Providence Gazette and issued many other works, including broadsides, pamphlets, and books, notably printing the first American edition of the letters of poet and essayist Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1762). The business was successful enough to add a bindery and bookstore. 

In 1768, Sarah sold the business to John Carter, who continued the Providence Gazette (see lot ##), and she and Mary Katherine moved to Philadelphia in order to take over Williams' new paper, the Pennsylvania Chronicle and Universal Advertiser. William proved to be an erratic manager who was frequently absent, and Sarah took over management of the paper.

Sarah died in 1770, however, and Mary Katharine took over as the paper's manager. In 1774, she took control of William's revolutionary publication, The Maryland Journal. She became an active and influential printer for the colonial revolutionaries. She printed Thomas Paine's Common Sense, in which she included editorials rebuking British brutality.

By 1775, she was evidently a well-established businesswoman and was appointed postmaster of the Baltimore post office. This almost certainly made her the first woman postmaster in colonial America. 

On 18 January 1777, the Second Continental Congress deemed that the Declaration of Independence should be widely distributed throughout the colonies. Despite the threat of treason, she offered her press and became the printer of the second-ever printing of the seminal document. Notably, the Goddard Broadside is the first to contain the typset names of all the signatories. In the first printing (the Dunlap Broadside), only John Hancock and Charles Thomas, President and Secretary (respectively) of the Continental Congress, were included. 

Notably, her earlier printings bore the gender-ambiguous imprint "published by M.K. Goddard." On this most important work, she used her full name with the imprint, located at the lower edge, reading "Baltimore, in Maryland: Printed by Mary Katharine Goddard." 

Interestingly, the artist was inspired to make a second printing, slightly altering the text from the original. Belloff writes in her introduction: "I do believe the majority of people today intuitively understand "all Men" to mean that all are created equal - all men and women, all mankind, all people. Whether or not Thomas Jefferson intended Men to be understood as mankind or white men only (men who had the privilege of owning land and the right to vote) or men only (white men and African men), is not definitely known. There were clearly contradictory definitions of freedom and human rights in the late 18th century and subsequently, which are still being grappled with today. As an artist and letterpress printer, I cannot help but wonder how Mary Katharine may have felt being entrusted to print this world-changing proclamation while setting each letter of the text, "all Men are created equal." While I bow to the historic significance of the original by creating an accurate facsimile, as a woman of my generation, it is most difficult for me to publish a document stating "all Men are created equal." This is why I decided to print a second unambiguous and all-inclusive edition proclaiming, "all People are created equal.""

Today, there are eleven known copies of the Goddard Broadside. The relative inaccessibility of the original inspired the printer of this document to print this edition of 100. As well as another printing of 100 with the "all People" alteration. 

VERY RARE. No other copies have ever sold at auction. 

[Broadsides, Ephemera, Printing, Posters, Handbills, Documents, Newspapers] [American Revolutionary War, American Revolution, Founding Fathers, Declaration of Independence, Colonial America, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, James Monroe] [Women's History, Feminist History]

Fine. Bright and clean.