Declaration of Independence

Rare Copy Of The Declaration Of Independence Found

A rare copy of the Declaration of Independence has been found in England. The AP reports that British researchers discovered the "Dunlap print," named after a printer, in the National Archives several months ago but was only announced after it was cataloged (and just in time for July 4th).

There are only around 200 original copies and finding a new one in good condition is extremely rare, only around 26 Dunlap prints are believed to still exist. Officials aren't sure how the document ended up in the archives but it may have been on a ship that was intercepted by the British navy. It was discovered by an American bookseller doing research at the archives in Richmond, Surrey. The last Dunlap print found was sold at an auction for $8.14 million in 2000. The National Archives have no plan to sell this document.

Tags: declaration of independence, DeclarationOfIndependence, documents, independence day, IndependenceDay

The World of Rare Books: The Gutenberg Bible, First and Most Valuable

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

There are countless rare books in the world, but by most expert's standards the rarest of them all is the Gutenberg Bible. It was the first book ever printed back in 1456, and although several hundred copies were originally printed finding a complete first edition would net you $25-$35 million. In today's market single pages alone go for $25,000 each, and several years ago just 1 volume (it's a 2 volume set) sold for $5.5 million.

Besides the Gutenberg Bible other rare books include the first edition of Shakespeare's collected works from 1623 (worth $6 million), a collection of Leonardo da Vinci's manuscripts (potentially worth as much as $100 million), and of course any first edition copy of the Declaration of Independence (worth $8 million). Edgar Allen Poe's work also makes in onto the "rarest books" list with his first published poem ("Tamerlane") being rare and difficult to find due to a byline of simply "By A Bostonian." It's worth as much as $200,000 to the right buyer.

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Tags: Bible, book, books, Declaration of Independence, DeclarationOfIndependence, Edgar Allen Poe, EdgarAllenPoe, first edition, FirstEdition, Gutenberg, rare, rarest, Shakespeare, the rare, TheRare