1818 Declaration of Independence Broadside Engraved by Benjamin Owen Tyler

This is a stunning 1818 engraving of the Declaration of Independence, the first engraved broadside of our nation’s founding document. The year 1815 saw the conclusion of the United States’ second war with Britain, the War of 1812, and our American nationalism peaked in its wake. Entrepreneurial publishers hoped to fill this demand and rushed to produce the first engraved printing of the Declaration of Independence.  At the time of publication, the American populace was hungry for prints, paintings, and books that retold and celebrated their nation’s founding. Two publishers- Benjamin Owen Tyler and John Binns- created engraved copies of the Declaration, however in distinctively different styles. Binns was the first to announce his Declaration printing and was the first to collect subscriptions.  However his printing took over three years to complete and he did not publish his engraving until 1819. In the meantime, Tyler funded, engraved, and even secured an endorsement for his Declarat