325

[Francis Scott Key.]

The Star-Spangled Banner, an early printing in an issue of the National Advocate.

New York, 27 September 1814
4 pages, 19½ x 13 inches, on one folding sheet; stitch holes, horizontal fold, toning, minor wear and foxing.

An early printing of what became the national anthem, here bearing the title "Defence of Fort McHenry" and to be sung to the tune of "Anacreon in Heaven." The first newspaper printing was on 20 September 1814 in the Baltimore Patriot. It is here presented a week later with the Patriot's introduction, which calls it a "beautiful and animating effusion, which is destined long to outlast the occasion, and outlive the impulse which produced it." Filby, Star-Spangled Books N-13 lists this as tied for the 7th-earliest known newspaper printing.

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