We give you: the Declaration of Independence, in Thomas Jefferson’s hand. Click through to see all four pages. (Apologies for the fuzzy quality of the images.)
Amazing, right? This artifact is in the NYPL’s Thomas Addis Emmet Collection, which contains several thousand original prints, drawings, watercolors, and printed book illustrations relating to early American history, primarily from the period leading to the American Revolution through the early years of the nation.
In an NYPL blog post, Thomas Lannon, assistant curator of the Manuscripts & Archives Division, gives a history of this copy of the Declaration and explains how the Library came to own it.
Happy Independence Day!
