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Description of  The Declaration in Script and Print: A Visual History of America s Founding Document (Penn State Series in the History of the Book)

0271097302 pdf Perhaps the single most important founding document of the United States of America, the Declaration of Independence became both a work of art and a mass-market commodity during the nineteenth century. In this book, graphic arts historian John Bidwell traces the fascinating history of Declaration prints and broadsides and reveals the American publics changing attitudes toward this iconic text. The new and improved intaglio, letterpress, and lithographic printing technologies of the nineteenth century led to increasingly elaborate reproductions of the Declaration. Some were touted as precious relics others were aimed at the bottom of the market. Rival publishers claimed to have produced the definitive visualization of the document, attacking the character and patriotism of other firms even as they promoted their own artistic abilities and attention to detail. Meanwhile, painter John Trumbull attempted to sell subscriptions for an engraved version of his Declaration painting, and John Quincy Adamsthen secretary of statecommissioned an official 1823 edition in response to the feuding facsimilists seeking government patronage. Bidwell unravels the intricate web of rivalries surrounding these competing publications. Read more