Description:

Zenger John



Peter Zenger on the Brink of the Political War That Led to His Famous Freedom of Speech and The Press Trial

 

Zenger, John Peter. Manuscript Document Signed (“Peter Zenger”) as a Witness to a Legal Proceeding. New York. Nov. 2, 1731. Folio. [1]p. Embossed seal of the City of New York, some minor soiling and toning, very good and incredibly rare.

 

This 1731 power of attorney is a very rare signed document by John Peter Zenger, a German printer in New York (established 1725). Documents written or signed by Zenger are incredibly rare on the market – we trace only one other at auction in the last forty years. Here Zenger has signed his name witnessing a case by Johann Wolff to collect a debt. This event taking place just 3 years before his famous trial for publishing seditious writing and his subsequent acquittal. Zenger has here witnessed a declaration made by Johann David Wolff concerning legal proceedings against his relatives in Germany for the recovery of a debt. It is signed by Wolff, also witnessed by Thomas Richardson and Thomas Brown, and also signed by Robert Lurting, Mayor of New York, and four alderman, notarized by clerk William Sharpas, with the embossed paper seal of the City of New York attached to the document with silk strings.

 

John Peter Zenger (1697-1746) emigrated with his family from Germany in 1710. He was apprenticed to William Bradford, the colony’s only printer, finishing his apprenticeship in 1718 at the age of 21. Printing for a time in Maryland, he partnered with Bradford in a printing shop in 1725, though their partnership only lasted a year. Now on his own, Zenger struggled to make ends meet, specializing in the niche market of Dutch printing. In 1732, the arrival of a new governor set off a political factional war in the colony, and the opposition press found its voice by way of Zenger’s press. This led to the founding of the New-York Weekly Journal, printed by Zenger and used as a counter to Bradford’s established New-York Gazette. In November 1734, Zenger was accused of seditious libel and imprisoned for almost nine months before standing trial. Clearly motivated by the politics of the situation, the colonial establishment tried to block Zenger’s representation by disbarring his lawyers, only to have Andrew Hamilton arrive from Philadelphia the day before the trial to assume the defense. The jury acquitted after only a few minutes’ deliberation, and Zenger and his lawyer were hailed as popular heroes. Zenger would go on to become the official printer for both New York and New Jersey, with his widow and son succeeding him at the press after his death.


Ex Sotheby's Marshal Coyne Collection where it sold for $15,600 nearly 20 years ago. Only two Zengers known to us. The other sold for $60,000!


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