"United States Constitution" from the Printing Office of Edes & Gill in Boston - Pre-ratification, with letter from George Washington

Updated June 16: These are all printed by hand. We are currently out and we're working with the printer to have more created, which, we hope, will be in a few weeks.  —  Lee

This video was shot at the Printing Office of Edes & Gill the day they began printing the Boston edition of the United States Constitution. In the video, Gary Gregory, founder and print master, describes the five year effort to print this for the first time since 1787.

This the broadside with the Constitution, as printed in Boston before ratification, and it includes a letter from Washington urging ratification. (The letter is on the second side, at the bottom.) 

The print is from the Printing Office of Edes & Gill, which is located in Faneuil Hall in Boston.

The original broadside was printed on both sides of a sheet. These are printed side by side, which makes them convenient for framing, on a sheet that is 23" x 17 1/2"

As was the case with the original broadsides, there is variability in ink coverage. To get a better idea of why some of these differences occur, watch the video above.

If you are interested in this in a handmade frame, contact me. Prices start around $500 and production time is four to eight weeks.

We also have the Boston broadside of the "Declaration of Independence," printed by Edes & Gill, as well as the Philadelphia broadside, printed by John Dunlap, and the Baltimore broadside printed by Mary Katherine Goddard.

— Lee Wright  |  Founder  |  The History List  |  History Camp

 About Benjamin Edes & John Gill

On April 7, 1755, Edes and Gill became the proprietors of The Boston Gazette and Country Journal. According to the author of Infamous Scribblers (2006), the Boston Gazette, arguably the most influential newspaper the country has ever known, got us into the Revolutionary War, sped up the course of the war and may have even determined the outcome of the war.