New York – In celebration of the 250-year anniversary of the beginning of the American Revolution, Bonhams will offer a trove of rare and important documents from that pivotal moment in history during its Fine Books & Manuscripts sale from March 31 – April 8. Highlighting the group is an exceedingly rare broadside printed by the London Evening Post on May 29th, 1775, containing the first accounts outside of America of fighting at Lexington, a little over a month earlier. Remarkably, the accounts are from American sources, pre-dating the arrival of the British government's own reports by two weeks. Becoming "the shot heard round the world," the American accounts were picked up by papers in Europe, Russia and the far East – spreading news of the events in a pro-colonist light. Estimated at $20,000 – 30,000, this is the first copy of this broadsheet to be offered at auction.

Also on offer is a powerful letter from Richard Stockton (1730-1781), a signer of the Declaration of Independence and friend of George Washington, to his brother Samuel Stockton in London in October of 1775 discussing the readiness and resolve of the American people preparing for war. An elegant and powerful expression of the American quest for Independence, it also is a very early recorded use of Yankee Doodle with Stockton commenting he was waiting to make General Howe "... dance to the tune of Yankee Doodle..." Originally sung in mockery of the unpolished American militia during the French and Indian Wars, the intended insult backfired when American fife and drum bands proudly played the tune as General Percy was driven back toward Boston. The letter is expected to achieve $80,000 – 120,000.

Additional highlights include:

• A Revolutionary War privateering commission for Matthew Ritch and the Schooner Liberty signed by John Hancock (1737-1793), leading figure of the Revolution and the first signer of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, is estimated at $10,000 – 15,000.

• A one-page manuscript containing a list of men who fought in the Battle at Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775, is estimated at $8,000 – 12,000.

• A rare Boston printing of one of the Intolerable Acts from 1774 is estimated at $8,000 – 12,000.

• The first confirmed report in Massachusetts of the vote for Independence in The New-England Chronicle on July 11, 1776, estimated at $10,000 – 15,000.

• Parallel calipers belonging to Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), estimated at $10,000 – 15,000.

(Press Release)