Note that this is $3,000 less than the identical print on offer now through a well-known dealer.
Several months ago I was alerted by a friend in New York City to a very unusual print. After I got it I took it to a conservator with decades and decades of experience with paper conservation. Several weeks and several hundreds of dollars later I had it back in my hands and made a solid wood frame for it. When I went to look for more information on it, I was surprised that there was no scan of it online at the Library of Congress or at the other major libraries with large digital collections.
What’s unusual about the print? Its from that period when all sorts of calligraphic images were created, but none I’ve seen like this one, in which the text of Declaration of Independence is written out with thick and thin lines making the portrait of George Washington, who is surrounded by the seals of 16 states. This places it toward the end of the Civil War.
Created by W.H. Pratte of Davenport, Iowa, and printed by Augustus Hagelboeck, also of Davenport, Iowa.
Printed in ink on the upper edge on the ribbon in the eagle's mouth: "E / Pluribus / Unum." Printed in ink above the main text and image of Washington: "Declaration of Independence." Printed in ink above each state seal is the name of the state to which it corresponds. Printed in ink on the ribbon at lower left: "Designed and written / by W. H. Pratt / Davenport, Iowa." Printed in ink on the ribbon at lower right: "Lith. and print. / by A. Hageboeck Davenport, Iowa." Printed in ink on the reverse of the mat board: "Birge- Made in USA". Source: Mount Vernon
Art historian Deb Stein wrote this article which has additional historical background: A closer look at a rare 1865 lithograph: “The Declaration of Independence with George Washington and the Seals of 36 States.
The print is beautiful, and unusual, and framed in a solid wood frame made by hand in New England with UV-protecting, non-reflective conservation-grade acrylic for glazing.
As you see, I chose to frame it "floating" on a mat to show this as a historic artifact, as opposed to matted like an art piece as was done with the one linked from the top of the page. The frame I made is also designed to complement, not distract from, the fabulous print.
— Lee Wright | Founder
Size: 16" x 20"
Shipping: $55 with signature required. Please allow two weeks for shipping.
Historical background: Lithography
Lithography was invented in c. 1796 by a Bavarian playwright, Alois Senefelder, when he realized that if he rolled ink across an image created by greasy crayon on a limestone surface that he could print extra copies of his scripts.
The basic process used by artists thereafter is virtually as discovered by Senefelder.
- A surface, limestone in the past, but increasingly zinc or aluminum, is ground down to give some grain to the surface for holding the marks.
- A mix of black pigment and grease (in the form of a pencil, crayon, chalk, or liquid) is applied to create the image.
- The rest of the plate is treated with a solution (of gum arabic and nitric acid) which accepts water but not grease.
- Then the surface is wet down with water and when the roller of printing ink is pushed across the surface it adheres only to the greasy mix that formed the image.
- A dampened sheet of printing paper is placed on the inked surface and the heavy even pressure of the press transfers the image to the printing paper.
Thanks to Deb Stein for the historical background above and as explained in this article, A closer look at a rare 1865 lithograph: “The Declaration of Independence with George Washington and the Seals of 36 States.
Deb Stein, PhD, is an independent art historian specializing in eighteenth and nineteenth-century American and European art history and a Visiting Lecturer at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.
