Declaration of Independence | The first printing in magazine form

Declaration of Independence

The Pennsylvania Magazine: or American Monthly Museum. For July 1776. Philadelphia: Printed by R. Aitken [early August 1776]

8vo (213 x 128 mm). Text in 2 columns, wood-engraved title-page vignette; foxing, some browning. Half calf antique, marbled boards, spine with raised bands in six compartments, second with red morocco label, others with repeated gilt motif; a little wear, browning to boards.

First printing of the Declaration of Independence in magazine form. Thomas Paine, editor of the Pennsylvania Magazine, closed its production in a blaze of glory by presenting here the text of the Declaration of Independence (pages 328-330). He opened the news section entitled "Monthly Intelligencer" with this momentous document. This volume is also an appealing "slice of life" at the very birth of the United States of America, as various essays discuss the newly discovered Venus fly-trap, scurvy at sea, and the "great danger of ladies wearing wires in their caps and pins in their hair."