Texas Declaration of Independence & Travis' "Victory or Death" Letter (2 print set)

About the Travis Letter:

Col. William Barrett Travis' Victory or Death letter has been called a masterpiece of American Patriotism, but the letter reached the world at large in a slightly different form than he intended.

When they printed the original broadside at San Felipe de Austin, Baker & Borden changed a few words, omitted the address line and altered the salutation.

That's the form that made it into the Telegraph and Texas Register, which was copied by the New Orleans papers on March 16 and finally arrived in Washington DC on March 31. It wasn't until mid April that the text was printed in the New England papers.

Those New Englanders were the first to read it with the poignancy that you and I experience, as they had already learned the fate of Travis and the Alamo defenders.

Here it is: Restored to the form Travis intended.  The type is clean, clear and legible. If your vision is 20/20 you can read it from across the room.

It's designed to remind you of the men of the Alamo and their commander... of the sacrifice they willingly made for the cause of liberty.

It's not just a pretty picture to hang on your wall. It stands for something.

About the Declaration: 

There are lots of Texas Declaration of Independence facsimiles available, but they are uniformly small, somewhat crudely printed, and hard to read. That's not surprising if you know the history of the original document. 

When the declaration was finished and signed at Washington-on-the-Brazos, a rider was dispatched to San Felipe de Austin with a handwritten copy. Gail Borden worked through the night to set the type and print a hundred copies on 13 by 16 inch paper. Borden used the same small type he used to print his newspaper, the Telegraph & Texas Register.

Before 1944, almost no one in Texas had ever seen what one of those original printings looked like. That was the year Lou Kemp completed his book on the signers.

He wanted something special to give away with the limited edition of the book, so Andrew Jackson Houston allowed his father's copy to be photographed to produce a facsimile.

All the reproductions you find today are third and fourth generation copies to Lou Kemp's facsimile. And it shows.  

The problem is this: out of those 100 copies printed by Borden, there are only 12 still in existence and only 2 remain in private hands. None of the owners are in a hurry to hand over their million dollar document to be scanned or photographed to create better facsimiles.

So here's what we did:

We completely re-typeset the declaration, being careful to keep the form true to the original. Each line is of the correct character length, every comma is in place and period spelling is retained. 

The difference is we made it bigger. 18 by 24 inches with columns over four inches wide. The type is clean, clear and legible. 

There's just one problem.  It makes a statement. Hang it on your wall and people will notice. If you are shy about your love for Texas history, this might not be right for you.

Physical Details

• Each is 18 by 24 inches (fits in a standard frame)
• Printed using archival inks 
• On heavyweight fine-art paper

 
The paper is heavyweight fine-art. It is acid free, cold pressed, with an elegant ever so lightly textured finish. This surface allows the inks to 'bite', reproducing the shading and tonality of the original map vividly, beautifully, and exactly.

The inks are guaranteed color-fast for 80 years, which means you won't need to lay out the extra money for UV glass. You can hang your map in direct sun and it will be just as bright when they are passed on to the next generation it is the day it ships.

It's an instant heirloom. Get yours before they're gone...and get one to give to a friend. He'll owe you!