John Dunlap and the Declaration of Independence

John Dunlap was born on Meeting House Street, Strabane, Co Tyrone, in 1747. By the age of 10 Dunlap crossed the Atlantic to be apprentice to his uncle William, a bookseller and printer in Philadelphia.

John must have been an impressive apprentice because by 1767 he took over his uncle’s business, paying back his uncle in instalments.

Independence Printer

John Dunlap launched the Pennsylvania Packet in 1771, the first successful newspaper in the United States. The ‘Continental Congress’ established in 1773, and on the night of the 4th of July, 1776 Congress approached John Dunlap asking him to print their Declaration of Independence.

The 29-year-old Dunlap spent the night working from their hand-written manuscript setting the type and printing around 200 copies of the Declaration. Around 26 of these original 200 copies are known to still exist.

There is evidence it was done quickly, and in excitement—watermarks are reversed, some copies look as if they were folded before the ink could dry and bits of punctuation move around from one copy to another

— Ted Widmer, Ark of the Liberties: America and the World

Connection with Gray’s Printing Works

Today, the National Trust owns Gray’s Printing Works in Strabane, but as at the end of 2022 it is open only by arrangement. There’s no specific evidence that John Dunlap worked for Gray’s for the short period between perhaps starting work at eight and moving to the US at the age of ten. It’s perhaps fair that the Trust should appropriate this Strabane printer as their own.

---

Location

49 Main Street, Strabane, County Tyrone

---

---

Header Image: from NYPL Digital Collections