the first of its kind - a careful facsimile dedicated to Thomas Jefferson

In Congress, July 4th 1776. The Unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America

drawn by Benjamin Owen Tyler, engraved by Peter Maverick, 1 p., 31-1/2 x 25-3/4 in., finely engraved calligraphic text, watermark "T. GILPIN & Co."

Benjamin Owen Tyler (1789-aft. 1855) was born in Massachusetts and grew up in Vermont. He moved to New York City around 1814, where he taught penmanship and stenography and did ornamental writing for diplomas and other documents. Tyler married Anna Maria Payne (1795-1848) in Albany, New York, in November 1815, and they had at least four children, only one of whom survived. In 1816, Tyler also taught penmanship at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He moved in January 1817, to Washington, D.C., where he taught handwriting and produced engraved portraits of famous Americans and created facsimiles of their letters. In 1818, he published what he considered the “first correct copy” of the Declaration of Independence. When he visited Monticello, he taught Thomas Jefferson’s granddaughters how to improve their writing and “make pens scientifically.” In 1820, he opened a lottery office in Washington with branches in other northeastern cities and operated it for a decade. He left Washington in 1830 and lived “in various parts of the United States and the Canadas,” before returning briefly to Washington in 1834. When he returned, he offered some of his previous productions, as well as a few copies of his Declaration of Independence printing with facsimile signatures. He returned to the capital again in 1838, when he sold paintings and preserved paintings, drawings, and maps with a varnish invented by his wife. 

Provenance: Private New England Collection

Note: Benjamin Owen Tyler dedicated this edition to Thomas Jefferson, the principal drafter of the hallowed document. Jefferson counted his authorship of the original among his greatest accomplishments for which he hoped to be remembered. When Tyler asked Jefferson for permission to dedicate the engraving to him, Jefferson consented but humbly reminded him that he was "but a fellow laborer" with the other signers. The admiration Tyler held for Thomas Jefferson could be felt in this letter to Jefferson of the same year:

City of Washington, March 14th 1818
Sir
I take the liberty of addressing you on a subject which once animated your soul in the cause of Justice, and guided your hand to light the torch of Liberty, which shall guide millions yet unborn through the dark and benighted paths of Despotism to the temple of Freedom. 

I have executed a correct copy of the charter of our Freedom, the Declaration of Independence, in which you acted a most conspicuous part, and for which the gratitude of the American people will ever be perpetuated - to you and your noble compatriots as long as Liberty shall remain on the earth. I have also made a facsimile copy of all the signatures of those sages who declared us free, and it is now engraving on plate the same size as the original, and will be published early in April next, and Sir I should be proud of the honor (by your permission) to Dedicate it to you for the effusion of gratitude and as a tribute of respect which I entertain for a Statesman and Patriot who has received the highest honors a free and Independent people could confer in elevating you to the dignified station which you have filled with so much honor to yourself and this great and flourishing nation, and when I reflect on the oppressed situation of my country when this invaluable pledge of everything sacred was executed - and compare it with the Liberty and happiness we now enjoy (being the only free nation on earth) I cannot but exclaim, what American would not feel grateful to those Heroes who achieved our Independence, whose names with yours are engraven on the hearts of every American, and shall live until the meridian sun which reflects her brightest beams upon their glory shall cease to illuminate the world.

May the Genius of that Liberty in the obtaining of which you bore so conspicuous [a part], watch over and protect you, in your advanced age and retirement - and may the blessings of peace health and happiness, and the gratitude of a free and grateful country attend you, is the fervent prayer of one who presumes to express the grateful sentiments of millions

With the highest Respect and Esteem I have the honor to be Sir Your most devoted Servant
Benjamin O. Tyler