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Signature of Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine's own handwritten signature, used to connect his manuscripts and letters to the man himself.

Paine's own autograph signature, linking him directly to his surviving manuscripts and letters.

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Black cursive script on white background reading 'Paine', with large flourished capital letters T and P, in the style of a handwritten signature.
Signature of Thomas Paine.

About this source

What it is

This is a reproduction of Thomas Paine's autograph signature, showing the cursive 'Paine' with flourished capital letters, in the style he used to sign his own name.

Why it matters

A signature is a direct physical trace of a person's own hand. For students studying Paine's many pamphlets, letters and books, recognizing his actual signature helps connect the ideas in his writings to the real historical person who wrote them.

Look closer

  • What can handwriting tell us about a person that printed text cannot?
  • Why might historians use a signature to verify that a document is genuinely by someone?
  • What does a signature alone fail to tell us about what a person believed or wrote?

This document is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Thomas Paine on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More Thomas Paine sources

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Title page of the 1776 Philadelphia pamphlet Common Sense, addressed to the Inhabitants of America, printed by R. Bell in Third Street. Handwritten annotations include a name in the top corner and Thomas Paine's name near the bottom.Book

Primary source

Common Sense

Thomas Paine · 10 January 1776

Photograph of the first page of a printed 1776 pamphlet titled The American Crisis, Number I, by Thomas Paine, with handwritten annotations at the top reading 'by Thomas Paine' and 'published in the Penn. Journal' and 'June 1776'. The printed text begins 'These are the times that try men's souls.'Book

Primary source

The American Crisis

Thomas Paine · 1776-1783

Title page of Rights of Man, reading 'Rights of Man: Being an Answer to Mr. Burke's Attack on the French Revolution, by Thomas Paine, Secretary for Foreign Affairs to Congress in the American War, and Author of the Work Intitled Common Sense. London: Printed for J. S. Jordan, No. 166, Fleet-Street. MDCCXCI.' Handwritten ink marks appear in the upper right corner.Book

Primary source

Rights of Man

Thomas Paine · 1791-1792

Title page of The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine. Text reads: 'The Age of Reason; Being an Investigation of True and Fabulous Theology. By Thomas Paine, Secretary for Foreign Affairs to Congress in the American War, and author of the works entitled Common Sense, and Rights of Man, &c. Paris: Printed by Barrois. London: Sold by D. I. Eaton, at the Cock and Swine, No. 74, Newgate-street. 1794. Price two shillings.'Book

Primary source

The Age of Reason

Thomas Paine · 1794-1807

Scan of the engrossed Declaration of Independence on aged parchment. Heading reads 'In Congress, July 4, 1776' with the title 'The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America' below. Dense handwritten text fills the page; signatures appear at the bottom.Document

Primary source

Declaration of Independence

Continental Congress (drafted by Thomas Jefferson) · 1776

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