The Earliest Public Newspaper Announcement of the Final Emancipation Proclamation
Emancipation Proclamation.
Boston: Boston Daily Courier, 1863.
Full Description:
[LINCOLN, Abraham]. [Emancipation Proclamation]."President's Proclamation. Emancipation of Slaves in Rebellious States." Boston. [Published in]: Boston Daily Courier Volume LXXVIII no. 2. Friday Morning, January 2, 1863.
The publication of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in the Boston Daily Courier, and one of, if not the first official public announcements of the Final Emancipation Proclamation once it was signed and in effect as of January 1, 1863. The Proclamation is featured at the top of the center column of page [3].
We could find no other copies of this or any other January 2nd edition at auction and it is not mentioned in Eberstadt. Eberstadt's entry for the second edition of the "Final Proclamation" (Eberstadt 9) states "Second edition. Apparently the only separate newspaper edition of the final proclamation and the earliest non-official edition. Printed on Friday evening, January 2, 1863, this Extra, in point of chronological sequence, was preceded only by the first official edition." Our present copy, although not a separate newspaper edition, was rushed to press and published in the Friday Morning edition of the Courier, placing it's publication prior to Eberstadt 9.
According to Eberstadt "A number of newspapers did not issue on January 2nd because of the previous day's holiday, but most of those that did carried the final proclamation. Many of the others printed it on January 3rd." (pg. 17).
Broadsheet folio, one large leaf folded along side to make four pages (two leaves printed on recto and verso). Seven-column format. (26 x 19 inches; 655 x 490 mm). Light creases down the middle in both directions. A few minor closed tears. A large old ink signature along top margin of front page, causing some bleed-through and foxing, but not affecting text. Still a very good copy of this important declaration.
Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862 stating that if the rebelling states did not cease fighting and rejoin the Union by January 1, 1863, the slaves in those states would be set free. Once January 1st, 1863 arrived, President Lincoln signs and issues the final Emancipation Proclamation, freeing the slaves in the Confederate states. The Boston Courier issued this early printing of Lincoln's Proclamation the very next morning, January 2, 1863. "
HBS 69186.
$8,500.
Price: $8,500.00
Item #69186