(DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.) John Binns, engraver. Declaration of Independence. Engraving, 35½ x 26 inches; dampstaining on bottom 5 inches, early repairs to several closed tears, lacking 2 inches of lower right corner (filled), with slight loss to Adams signature. [Philadelphia]: Printed by James Porter, 1819 Issued four years before the famous Stone facsimile was the Binns Declaration, in which the text is rendered calligraphically, the signatures are presented in facsimile but rearranged to fit the oval, and the ornamental border (engraved by George Bridport) shows portraits of Hancock, Washington, and Jefferson along with the seals of the original states. A statement of authenticity by Secretary of State John Quincy Adams bears his own facsimile signature. Binns was the first to announce a facsimile project, though he was beaten to the press by rival Benjamin Owen Tyler. Bidwell, American History in Image and Text 5. Provenance: Superior Stamp & Coin sale, 24 June 1995, lot 198, to Milton R. Slater; Swann sale to the consignor, 25 November 2014, lot 104.