Description:

BOSTON MASSACRE BROADSIDE
Rare manuscript broadside, 1p. 16 1/2" x 13", a very unusual late eighteenth century transcription of Isaiah's Thomas' incendiary 1772 broadside memorializing the Boston Massacre: A Monumental Inscription on the Fifth of March Together with a Few Lines on the Enlargement of Ebenezer Richardson, Convicted of Murder. It is most likely that this manuscript was copied from Thomas' printed original broadside printed for the second anniversary of the Boston Massacre as the writer chose to copy almost exactly the lettering choices and line breaks. The writer also chose to copy the two-column format of the printed original, save for the Revere engraving that appeared in Thomas' original. The printed editions by Thomas (Evans 12302, Ford, W. C. Broadsides, 1606, of which there are two variants) included Paul Revere's woodcut of the Boston Massacre and is extremely rare. We find no editions selling on American Book Prices Current since 1975, nor does Americana Exchange record any sales. We know of three extant editions in institutional collections including the New York Public Library, the American Antiquarian Society and the Massachusetts Historical Society. This manuscript version bears a "Pro Patria" (Maid of Dort) watermark similar to a 1780 example cited in Gravell Watermark Archive (TJ 33). However this example bears a "TH" countermark unlike the "V" cited by Gravell. It is quite likely that this copy could have been made close to the time of printing as the printed versions of this incendiary message were probably quite rare at the time. One could imagine Boston's Tories ripping these broadsides down in disgust. The text of the broadside reads, in small part: "AMERICANS! Bear in Remembrance The HORRID MASSACRE! Perpetrated in King-street Boston, New-England, On the Evening of March the Fifth 1770. when FIVE of your fellow countrymen, GRAY, MAVERICK, CALDWELL, ATTUCKS and CARR, Lay wallowing in their Gore! Being, basely, and most inhumanely MURDERED! And SIX others badly WOUNDED! By a party of the XXIXth Regiment, Under the command of Capt. Tho. Preston. REMEMBER! That Two of the Murderers Were convicted of MANSLAUGHTER! By a Jury, of whom I shall say NOTHING... Bear in Remembrance That on the 22d Day of February, 1770, The infamous EBENEZER RICHARDSON, Informer, And tool to Ministerial hirelings, Most barbarously MURDERED CHRISTOPHER SEIDER. An innocent youth! Of which crime he was found guilty... but remained Unsentenced... This day, March Fifth! 1772 Remains UNHANGED..." The poem in the right column was reserved exclusively for Richardson and begins,"Awake my drowsy Thoughts! Awake my muse! Awake O earth, and tremble at the news! In grand defiance to the laws of God, the Guilty, Guilty murd'rer walks abroad. That city mourns, (the cry comes from the ground,) Where law and justice never can be found...". Ebenezer Richardson (b. 1718) was a Woburn, Massachusetts-born man fled to Boston amid scandal at home only to become an infamous informant to the customs service and attorney-general of the province. After being uncovered in the mid 1760s, he openly worked as an official customs employee enforcing the Townshend Duties -- making few friends in the process. On February 22, 1770, after attempting to break up a group of boys picketing a shop, his own home became subject to their abuse. His response of shooting a musket out his window killed one child and wounded another. The incident inflamed tensions in Boston and set the stage for the Boston Massacre less than two weeks later on March 5, 1770. The two events galvanized whig opposition to imperial authority and the anniversary of the 5th of March became a patriotic holiday. It was in this context, the second anniversary of the tragic events of the Winter of 1770, that led to the publication of Isaiah Thomas's broadside in 1772. Marginal wear including light chipping, usual folds, else very good condition.

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December 16, 2010 11:00 AM EST
Stamford, CT, US

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