The Declaration Rediscovered
A newly identified Exeter broadside adds to the story of one of America’s rarest printed founding documents.
Few printed documents are more closely associated with the birth of the United States than the Exeter broadside of the Declaration of Independence. Printed by Robert Luist Fowle in Exeter, New Hampshire, between July 16 and 19, 1776, the broadside was one of several editions produced after the Continental Congress approved the Declaration on July 4. Created to spread the news beyond Philadelphia quickly, the Exeter printing is among the rarest surviving broadside versions of America’s founding document, with only 11 examples now known.
The previous total of 10 increased by one in May 2026, when an unknown Exeter broadside was identified in the United Kingdom’s National Archives at Kew. Volunteer Michael Scurr was cataloging 18th-century Admiralty correspondence when he noticed a document that had long been listed in an inventory simply as “another paper.” Closer examination revealed it to be the only known Exeter broadside outside the United States.
The discovery solved a mystery that stretched back nearly 250 years. Historical records show the broadside had been carried aboard the American privateer Dalton, which sailed with official papers documenting its commission during the Revolutionary War. On Christmas Eve 1776, the vessel was captured off Portugal by the British warship HM Raisonable. The ship’s papers were seized and eventually transferred to Admiralty records, where the broadside remained unnoticed for generations.
Unlike the other surviving Exeter broadsides, the newly identified copy owes its survival to wartime capture rather than family ownership or institutional collecting. Preserved among British naval records rather than American archives, it offers a rare glimpse into how Revolutionary-era documents sometimes survived under unexpected circumstances.
The Exeter broadside joins a remarkably small group of surviving printings that continue to command extraordinary attention whenever they appear on the market. In January 2025, an Exeter broadside sold at Christie’s for $2.4 million. One year later, another example realized $5.687 million, setting one of the highest prices ever achieved for a printed Declaration of Independence. Most recently, in July 2026, Goldin sold a third Exeter broadside for $3.64 million to New Jersey philanthropist George E. Norcross III, who purchased the document for his family’s collection.
Although opportunities to acquire an Exeter broadside are exceptionally rare, the rediscovered example reminds collectors that history can still hold surprises. The copy now residing in the UK National Archives remained hidden in plain sight for nearly two and a half centuries. Now, the document adds a new chapter to the story of one of America’s most important printed artifacts while reinforcing the significance of the Exeter broadside itself.
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