Nov 17, 2016 - Sale 2432

Sale 2432 - Lot 40

Price Realized: $ 2,750
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
(AMERICAN REVOLUTION--1783.) The Ceremony of Proclaiming Peace in London, 6th of Oct'r 1783. Engraved broadside writing blank, 18 3/4 x 14 inches, with manuscript poem and inscription; edges worn, several chips and short tears, 5-inch repaired closed tear through image area, two small areas on margin filled, minor dampstaining. London: Carington Bowles, 17 November 1783; completed in 1792
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Additional Details

The border of this decorative writing sheet commemorates the signing of the Treaty of Paris between the United States and Great Britain. It is engraved with vignettes showing "A Herald Reading His Majesty's Proclamation of Peace," several emblems of royal might, and several classes of royal officials such as a trumpeter, a grenadier, and a herald of arms. The blank center was intended for use as a student calligraphic display. This example is filled in with a poem titled "God Save the King" which echoes a similar passage in Shakespeare's Richard II: "This royal throne of kings, this chief of isles / Where scepter'd majesty in grandeur smiles . . ." It is signed by Robert Silburn, 21 December 1792. No other copies of this writing sheet have been traced in OCLC or at auction. The Bodleian Library holds a blank fragment of a variant printing which does not include the date in the title.