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1823 Texas Broadside- Calling for a Republic 1823 Texas Broadside- The First Document Calling for a

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:24.00 USD Estimated At:50,000.00 - 100,000.00 USD
1823 Texas Broadside- Calling for a Republic 1823 Texas Broadside- The First Document Calling for a
<B>1823 Texas Broadside- The First Document Calling for a Republican Form of Government in Texas- the Only Copy Known in Private Hands!</B></I> One of the "Black Tulips" of Texana. One of the First Six Items Printed in Texas. <BR><BR>Governor of Texas, Jose Felix Trespalacios. <I>A LOS FILANTROPICOS SIN AMBICION. NOTICIA DE LO ACAECIDO EN BEXAR, EL DIA 15 DE ABRIL, DE 1823.</B></I> [To Public Minded Citizens of Good Will. An Account of a Meeting in San Antonio de Bexar, the 15th of April, 1823]. <BR><BR>Printed in San Antonio, Texas: George Asbridge, printer, April 18, 1823. Folio broadside with ornamental lettering and decorations, three columns, several small wormholes and splits at folds, generally very good condition. Housed in custom wood frame with glass protector. <BR><BR>This broadside, calling for the first Republican form of Government in Texas, is listed as imprint number six in Thomas W. Streeter’s <I>Bibliography of Texas</B></I> (which lists every known item printed in Texas) (see Lot 1062). It is so rare that Streeter never saw a copy to include in the first edition of his bibliography (which he listed as a "ghost" imprint, deducing its existence from a reference in a letter in the Bexar Archives at the University of Texas). When Archibald Hanna revised and updated Streeter’s <I>Bibliography of Texas</B></I> in 1983, he found the only existing copy of the broadside at the Bancroft Library at the University of California in Berkeley. THIS IS THE FIRST KNOWN COPY EVER TO APPEAR ON THE MARKET. Its rarity is such that no private or public collection in Texas has one. <BR><BR>The broadside begins: ‘The Senor Don Jose Felix Trespalacios, Governor of Texas, after having convened an illustrious town council, [including] the military, the clergy, and a great number of distinguished citizens and people, in the Town Hall of this City, proposes, in consideration of the critical circumstances in which the Mexican Empire finds itself, two plans: one for the organization of the Federal Republic, and the other for the Abolition of Cruel Warfare in America… Every government which does not have for its foundation equality and liberty for each and every one of its citizens in the nation, is illusory... <BR><BR><B>1).</B></I> A provincial governmental junta will be formed, to handle the economic and political issues of this Province, and will be composed of the individuals from the Town Council of this City, since they have been legitimately chosen by the people, and two representatives from Bahia del Espiritu Santo, one from Colorado, one from Brazos, and another from Nacogdoches. <BR><B>2).</B></I> The three guarantees of religion, independence and union will be sustained as the fundamental bases of a Republican form of government. <BR><B>3).</B></I> The governmental junta will name from its own members four Justices of the Peace to administer justice in all cases of under 100 pesos. <BR><B>4).</B></I> The expressed junta should operate through juries, except they shall not apply the death penalty in any case. <BR><B>5).</B></I> As far as the administration of justice, they should follow the method of conciliation if the junta sees fit. <BR>(Articles 6 to 9 discuss how to implement this plan throughout other provinces.) <BR><B>10).</B></I> A copy of this plan will be given to the principal town councils of America, with the firm pretext of having forever as the First Man the Great Yturbide, recognizing his worthy merits and service. <BR><BR>George Asbridge, the printer of this broadside, was apparently a New Yorker who had taken his press to Texas. Streeter 4 notes that Asbridge gave a lecture to the Typographers’ Union in New York City in 1811; some of his talent for typographic design can be seen in this broadside. Shortly after printing this broadside, Asbridge sold his press to the Mexican government and the press was moved to Monterrey, Mexico. Streeter cites the Texas Bibliographer, Winkler as saying "the type of man who bring type to Texas in 1823 like that used in the Bexar imprints was no ordinary printer." The bill that Asbridge submitted for printing for the government has survived in the Bexar Archives; each printing was limited to 20 copies, which would include this broadside. <BR><BR>Trespalacios, the author of this broadside, was an early patriot who joined forces with James Long, becoming the nominal leader of the Long Expedition. Iturbide appointed him Governor of Texas on August 17, 1822, and he served until his resignation on April 17, 1823. Under his administration Austin’s Colony was divided into the Brazos and the Colorado districts. He died in 1835 at Allende, Chihuahua, after serving as Commandant General there. <BR><BR>An extraordinarily rare broadside and San Antonio imprint, one of the first six items printed in Texas, and the first call for a Republican form of Government for Texas and other Mexican provinces. No copies recorded at auction or in any booksellers’ catalogues. No copies located in any private or any public collection in Texas. So rare that Thomas W. Streeter, in all of his years of collecting, never saw a copy and recorded the imprint as a "ghost" in the first edition of his <I>Bibliography of Texas, 1795-1845.</B></I> A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Consigned Lot Estimate: $50,000 - $100,000.