It was a gift given to my mother in the 1970s for her wedding by my father's Great Aunt. I am not sure how long she owned it before she gave it to my mom.
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Dunlap Broadside
After the Congress approved the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776, the Committee of Five was instructed to have several copies printed up that could be sent to various colonial leaders in the different colonies. The committee took the text to a Philadelphia printer named John Dunlap, who was the official printer of Congress. It is not known for sure how many copies Dunlap made that evening, but most historians believe the number was either 100 or 200 copies. 24 copies of this original printing are known to exist today. See a list of the holders of these copies here.
A broadside is a large piece of paper printed on one side that can be folded into quarters and used as a mailer or cut into several pages for a book. That is why they are called "Dunlap Broadsides." Note that this is the first printing of the Declaration of Independence from July 4th, 1776, and it is without any signatures at all, although it does have these words printed at the bottom, "Signed by ORDER and in BEHALF of the CONGRESS, JOHN HANCOCK, PRESIDENT. ATTEST. CHARLES THOMSON, SECRETARY."
