About 200 copies of the Dunlap broadside of the Declaration of Independence were printed in 1776.
John Dunlap, a Philadelphia printer, produced the broadside on the night of July 4, after Congress adopted the Declaration. These large printed sheets were sent to colonial governments, military leaders, and other recipients so the announcement could circulate quickly.
The Dunlap broadside was the first widely distributed printed version of the Declaration. It is different from the engrossed parchment copy, the handwritten document that delegates signed and that is now displayed at the National Archives.
Only 26 Dunlap broadsides are known to survive. One additional surviving copy was discovered in the British National Archives in 2009, making the surviving examples especially valuable to historians and collectors.