INFORMATION CIRCULAR 9
                                            (Revised 1955)
 
 
                       THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
 
                         CONSTITUENT SERVICES
               SERIAL & GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS DIVISION
 
 
                  The New-England Courant, Boston
    
                         February 11, 1723
           
The New-England Courant, No. 80, February 11, 1723, was the first
publication issued under the imprint of Benjamin Franklin. The date
line reads "From Monday February 4.to Monday February ll.l723."
The Courant was established by James Franklin on August 7, 1721, as
the third regularly issued newspaper in Boston.  In its columns
James Franklin gave offense to the Massachusetts General Court,
which ordered his imprisonment and the suppression of the paper. 
To avoid this censorship, Benjamin Franklin, who had been his older
brother's apprentice, was released from his indenture and the paper
was printed thereafter under his name. 
   Only four copies of the original issue of February 11, 1723, are
known to exist.  They are in the following: the American
Antiquarian Society (Worcester, Massachusetts), the British Museum,
the Massachusetts Historical Society (Boston), and Rutgers
University Library (New Brunswick, New Jersey).  This issue,
however, has been reprinted nine or more times.  Several of the
reprints carry the notice "Fac-Simile of the first Paper ever
issued by Franklin...". Such reprints were printed in 1856, 1876,
1888, and 1896, and still others have no date and no notice.  The
Library of Congress does not have an original of this issue.
   A comparison of the several reprints in the Library of
Congress with a photostat copy from the original belonging to the
Massachusetts Historical Society shows that they differ in various
details.  The text of the original reads as follows: 
    Page 1, column 1, line 1: "The late Publishcr of this Paper,
finding so many".
    Page 1, column 1, last line: "his Face, which splits it from
his Forehead in a". 
    Page 1, column 2, last line: "Body of Forces in readiness to
embark on the first No"; and below this at the right lower corner
is the catchword "tice" to show the beginning of the first
line at the top of page 2. 
    Copies that do not agree in these details are reprints and have
little monetary value.
 
 
 
                               U S GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1955
 

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