[Broadside]. Dudley, Joseph. Province of Massachusetts-Bay. 1703

[BROADSIDE]

DUDLEY, JOSEPH. PROVINCE OF MASSACHUSETTS-BAY. BY HIS EXCELLENCY, JOSEPH DUDLEY ESQ. CAPTAIN GENERAL AND GOVERNOUR IN CHIEF, IN AND OVER HER MAJESTIES PROVINCE OF THE MASSACHUSETTS-BAY AND NEW-HAMPSHIRE IN NEW-ENGLAND IN AMERICA …. A DECLARATION AGAINST THE PENNICOOKE AND EASTERN INDIANS …. GIVEN … IN BOSTON THE 18TH DAY OF AUGUST 1703. BOSTON: PRINTED BY BARTHOLOMEW GREEN AND JOHN ALLEN, 1703

Broadside (15 1/4 x 10 3/4 in.; 387 x 273 mm). Woodcut of royal coat of arms (Reilly 851 variant) at head, roman and blackletter types; folds with minor loss, affecting 1 letter, edges with tiny tears.

The Frank Siebert copy; only one other copy recorded. This copy is enhanced by a contemporary manuscript note on the verso, which declares, "This proclamation was proclaimed in Salem by beat of the drum from one end of the towne to the other August 1703. attest. William Gedney Sherriffe Essex." This broadside proclaims the beginning of Queen Anne's War against the French and Indians in New England.

LITERATURE:

Evans 1106; Ford 262 (American Antiquarian Society) 

PROVENANCE:

Frank T. Siebert (acquired Goodspeed's 1995; his sale, Sotheby's New York, 21 May 1999, lot 126)