humanities.lit.authors.shakespeare

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The great Alexander Brown writes that
two original manuscript copies of A True
and Sincere Declaration were held by
Harvard University around the time of the
War Between the States.

CXIV. A TRUE AND SINCERE DECLARATION.
December 14, 1609, entered at Stationers' Hall,
by John Stepney, under the hands of Lord De la
Ware, Sir Thomas Smith, Sir Walter Cope, Master
Waterson, "A True and sincere declaration of the
purpose and ends of the Plantation," etc. It has
never been reprinted, I believe. Originals are in
Harvard College Library and in the library of
Mr. Kalbfleisch of New York.

I always get excited when I discover that a
manuscript or two has survived. Without
researchers like Brown who went into the
Simancas to retrieve hundreds of records;
collections like Harvard's and private collectors
and preservationists like Mr. Kalbfleisch
the mice would have made nests of these
historic documents long ago.

I wonder what the handwriting on A True
Declaration looks like . . .