[DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE] A Declaration by the Representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in General Congress Assembled... [Philadelphia: Charles Toppan], 1829.

An early facsimile engraving of Jefferson's original rough draft of the Declaration of Independence. Printed three years after Jefferson's passing, this steel engraved facsimile of Jefferson's draft of the Declaration of Independence was commissioned for inclusion the first published edition of Jefferson's writings, edited by his grandson, Thomas Jefferson Randolph (1792-1875), under the title: Memoir, Correspondence and Miscellanies from the Papers of Thomas Jefferson. This is the second edition of this engraving, printed on four leaves, which appeared in the second American edition published in 1829 by F. Carr in Company in Charlottesville.* The first edition of this engraving, engraved on two folio sheets, was included in the first American edition which appeared in Boston (Gray and Bowen) and in New York (G. & C. & H. Carvill) the same year.

Jefferson's "original rough draft" is the earliest surviving complete draft of the Declaration of Independence (preceded only by the "composition draft," which exists in a fragmentary form. It bore the editorial comments of Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, and represents the state of the document before it was presented before the Continental Congress where it was heavily revised, most notably omitting Jefferson's indictment of the slave trade.

The engraver, Charles Toppan (1796-1874), joined the banknote engraving firm of Draper, Murray & Fairman in 1814 before establishing his own firm in 1829 in Philadelphia. The present steel engraving was one of his firm's first projects.

Four pages, 348 x 225mm, steel-engraved on wove paper, printed on rectos only with Toppan's mark on lower-right of fourth leaf.

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*Please note that a previous version of this cataloging incorrectly stated that this edition appeared in the Boston and New York edition of 1829 rather than the Charlottesville edition. We are grateful to Dr. Philip Jacobs for his assistance.