The following statement regarding the publishing of the Henry Clay will appears on the web page of the King Library Press, at the University of Kentucky.

"THE WILL OF HENRY CLAY has been set from the original, in Clay's hand, kept in the vault of the Fayette County Clerk's office. At least three other variant copies are known to exist: the will as it was probated, in the hand of James A. Grimstead, Clerk, Fayette County Will Book T; a copy among the papers of James O. Harrison, Clay's friend and attorney, now in the Library of Congress; and a copy among the papers of Henry Clay Simpson, in the possession of Mrs. Simpson, in Lexington. 

In setting the text, we have interpreted as faithfully as possible Clay's own hand, and followed his spelling & punctuation throughout.

Steve Armstrong has cut the wood engraving of Clay used as the frontispiece, and that of Clay's home, Ashland, for the tailpiece.

Set by hand in Joseph Blumenthal's Emerson type, with Caslon used for display, one hundred-fifty copies have been printed on Rives Heavyweight paper on the press of Gravesend, by Greg Davidson, Dave Elbon, Karen Ellenberg, Allan Hetzel, Paul Holbrook, B.J. McClure, & Melissa Sutherland at the King Library Press."

The following images of the pages of the Clay will are taken from the King Library web site, and are used with their premission. Note that the larger version of the  images (which may be accessed by clicking on the small images) are large graphic files, and will take some time to load.

More Information on Henry Clay

120 Sycamore Road
Lexington, Kentucky  40502
(859) 266-8581
Email: ebrooks@henryclay.org