Oak Knoll

First edition limited to 100 copies. A fine copy. Research and Printing took place January through September 2009, as originally designed and printed by Mary Katharine Goddard, January 1777. Dimensions: 21 x 16; 2-color black and brown; Essays page 21×16 letterpress printed in blue and red; inside an archival paper folio; Hand set in Caslon & letterpress printed on hand made cotton & linen paper. The Compositor and printer is Mindy Belloff of Intima Press.

Only nine known copies of the Goddard Broadside exist today. To honor Mary Katharine, Mindy Belloff of Intima Press spent close to a year researching and accurately reproducing Goddards 18th-century design and printing, in 2009. She hand set over 7,000 characters in Caslon typeface (as the original), and letterpress printed them one at a time on paper hand made specifically for the historic re-creation. The museum quality edition is limited to 100 copies. Each Declaration of Independence is 21 x 16 inches and is protected in an archival paper portfolio. A letterpress printed sheet of essays in blue and red ink on white paper, includes text by the artist with an introduction by David Armitage, Professor of History, Harvard University and author of The Declaration of Independence: A Global History; and an essay by Martha J. King, Historian of early America.

"Setting the Declaration in type was enlightening in many ways, as my thoughts throughout the process were of Mary Katharine in her print shop during the cold month of January, not having 21st-century amenities. I could not help but wonder how Mary Katharine must have felt being entrusted to print this stunning proclamation while setting each letter of the text all Men are created equal. Therefore, on July 4th, 2010, I went to press on a second unambiguous edition proclaiming all People are created equal," explained Mindy Belloff. "Mary Katharine was an incredibly brave woman for her time. By her actions, she was clearly a pioneer for womens rights and freedom of the press."

When we think of the Declaration of Independence today, it is the essence of the second paragraph stating an individuals undeniable right to live freely, that most Americans can recite from memory: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. "While I believe most people intuitively understand all Men to mean that all are created equal " all men and women, all mankind, all people, there were clearly contradictory definitions of freedom and human rights in the late 18th-century and subsequently. I felt it was time to clarify the language."