About 200 Dunlap broadsides of the United States Declaration of Independence were first printed.
John Dunlap printed the first published copies on the night of July 4, 1776, after Congress approved the Declaration. These broadsides were large sheets intended for public reading and distribution rather than bound books. The exact original number is unknown, so historians describe the total as an estimate of about 200.
The surviving copies are exceptionally valuable historical artifacts. Unlike the later engrossed parchment, the Dunlap broadside does not carry the famous handwritten signatures of the delegates; John Hancock’s name appears in type as part of the printed authorization. The broadside helped circulate news of independence rapidly throughout the colonies and abroad.