BRITISH NATIONAL ARCHIVES FINDS RARE COPY OF DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

BRITISH RESEARCHERS HAVE ANNOUNCED THE DISCOVERY OF A RARE ORIGINAL COPY OF THE AMERICAN DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, WHICH HAD BEEN HIDDEN IN THE FILES OF THE BRITISH NATIONAL ARCHIVES. KATRINA MCCLINTOCK, A SPOKESWOMAN AT THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES, SAID IN A RECENT INTERVIEW THAT A AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN BOOKSELLER ACCIDENTALLY DISCOVERED THE "DUNLAP PRINT", NAMED AFTER THE PRINTER, SEVERAL MONTHS AGO, AFTER GATHERING DUST FOR NEARLY 250 YEARS. THE FIND WAS ANNOUNCED ONLY AFTER IT COULD BE PROPERLY CATALOGED. THE POSTER SIZE PROCLAMATION, WHICH IS IN PERFECT CONDITION AND IS SAID TO BE WORTH MORE THAN £5 MILLION, IS ONE OF ONLY 26 SURVIVING INITIAL COPIES OF THE DOCUMENT THAT CHANGED THE COURSE OF HISTORY. THE MANUSCRIPT WAS HIDDEN AMONG FILES OF CORRESPONDENCE FROM US COLONISTS THAT HAD BEEN INTERCEPTED BY THE BRITISH IN THE 18th CENTURY. IT IS NOT CERTAIN HOW THE NEWLY DISCOVERED COPY CAME INTO THE BRITISH HANDS, BUT IT IS LIKELY TO HAVE BEEN CAPTURED BY THE ROYAL NAVY DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY WAR WHICH CONTINUED FOR SEVEN YEARS AFTER THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE WAS SIGNED. THE LAST DISCOVERY OF A DUNLAP PRINT WAS AT A FLEA MARKET IN 1989, AND IT SOLD AT AUCTION IN 2000 FOR £4.94 MILLION. DESPITE ITS VALUE, THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES SAID IT WILL NOT BE SELLING THE PRINT BY JOHN DUNLAP OF PHILADELPHIA, ALTHOUGH IT MAY BE LOANED TO AMERICAN MUSEUMS. "THE AMERICANS ARE VERY EXCITED BY IT", SAID A SPOKESMAN, "WE OFTEN LOAN OUT OUR KEY DOCUMENTS AND I'M SURE IF AN AMERICAN INSTITUTION WANTED TO BORROW IT, WE WOULD CONSIDER LENDING IT TO THEM."