General Orders No. 1. War Department, Adjutant General's Office, Washington, D.C., 2 January 1863. [Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, ca 7 January 1863]. 3-page pamphlet. Fifth edition. Eberstadt No. 12, p. 31. 

Preceded by the preliminary edition of the Proclamation printed in 1862 (see Lot 215), this is one of the earliest editions of the Final Proclamation, printed in early January 1863 to be distributed widely throughout the government and Union Army. 

Previously identified as the first printing of the Final Proclamation, Eberstadt identifies four earlier printings (Eberstadt, pp. 14-22, 31). 

Lincoln finalized the proclamation on 29 December 1862, and presented it to his Cabinet the next day. After a final round of edits on December 31st, the manuscript draft was rushed to the State Department in the early morning of January 1st. The first printing was a 2-page broadsheet issued by the State Department, probably printed the evening of January 1st. It was followed by a newspaper edition published in Springfield, the State Department folio, and a circular printed for dissemination to the foreign service posts of the Department of State.

This copy, the fifth edition, is dated, but not printed on, 2 January 1863. Although it was previously speculated that this was published for distribution to Union generals on 31 December 1862, they were actually sent telegraphic copies and not printed copies of General Orders, No. 1. Eberstadt further explains the lag in date: "The time lag between the date carried on General Orders and their actual printing ran at this period about seven to ten days; in the case of the beginning of the new series of 1863 it seems to have been at minimum of one week, with proclamations about ten days behind." (Eberstadt p.21).

Approximately 15,000 copies of General Orders No. 1 were printed, with "2,000 going to various Bureaus, 500 to posts, regiments states, generals, and miscellaneous groups; 3,000 to the Cumberland Department; 1,200 to the Department of the Gulf; 1,000 to the Department of Missouri; 800 to the Department of the Middle; 500 to the Department of Tennessee; 400 to the Department of Washington; 300 to the Department of the East," and the remainder to various other departments. (Eberstadt p. 21). 

An important and historic imprint. 

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