A Masterwork of Printing
M.T. Cicero's Cato Major, Franklin's personal favorite from
his press, is considered to be the finest example of the printing
art in colonial America. Furthermore, this work by the Roman philosopher
statesman Cicero is the first classic work translated and printed
in North America.
In his "Printer to the Reader," Franklin explains that
he has printed this piece "in a large and fair Character, that
those who begin to think on the Subject of old-age, . . . may not,
in Reading by the Pain small Letters give the Eyes, feel the Pleasure of
the Mind in the least allayed."
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Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.)
M. T. Cicero's Cato Major, or, his Discourse
of Old-Age.
Translated by James Logan.
Philadelphia: Printed and Sold by B. Franklin, 1744
Rare Book & Special Collections
Division (44)
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The General Magazine, and Historical
Chronicle, for all the British Plantations in America.
Printed and Sold by B. Franklin, January 1741
Rare Book & Special Collections
Division (45)
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One of the America's First Magazines
Franklin was the first to propose a monthly magazine for the American
colonies. John Webb, whom Franklin had hoped to engage as editor,
shared these plans with Franklin's rival, Andrew Bradford, and those
two decided to publish a magazine. Both printers issued their first
number in February 1741. Bradford's American Magazine, which
may have beaten Franklin's General Magazine by a few days,
lasted only three issues, while Franklin's magazine survived for
six. |
Promoting Useful Knowledge
This rare broadsheet is the founding document of the American Philosophical
Society, the oldest scientific society in America. Franklin proposed
that Philadelphia members would exchange information and ideas regarding
all fields of natural and applied science and correspond with members
in other colonies and countries about practical matters to benefit
their lives and improve mankind. Franklin served as society secretary
during the early years, and later as president, when regular correspondence
was established with the Royal Societies of London and Dublin. Franklin
encouraged communication between the learned societies to continue
even during the Revolution.
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[Benjamin Franklin].
A Proposal for Promoting Useful Knowledge
among the British Plantations in America.
Page 2
Philadelphia, 1743
Rare Book & Special Collections
Division (46)
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Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
"Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion," November
20, 1728
Manuscript document
Manuscript Division (47)
Partial Transcription |
Benjamin Franklin's Personal Liturgy
Benjamin Franklin asserted in his autobiography that he had quickly
tired of formal religious services, but that early in life he had
written his own private articles of religious belief and a simple
liturgy to be read on Sundays. |
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Ephrata Community Songbook
Founder of the German Seventh-Day Baptists Johann Conrad Beissel
immigrated with the community to Ephrata, Pennsylvania, in 1732.
Beissel served as the spiritual director of the group as well as
its composer, devising his own system of composition. The group's
illuminated musical manuscripts were hand-lettered in Fraktur and
are among the earliest original music composed in the British colonies.
This illustrated hymnal was once in the possession of Benjamin Franklin.
The rare second compilation of Beissel's hymns was printed in roman
type without music by Benjamin Franklin in 1732.
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Ephrata Community
Die bittre Gute, oder Das Gesäng der einsamen
Turtel-Taube . . .
Page 2
Manuscript hymnal, 1746
Music Division (49)
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[Conrad Beissel].
Vorspiel der Neuen-Welt.
Page 2
Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin, 1732
Rare Book & Special Collections
Division (48)
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Printed Currency
Soon after establishing himself as an independent printer, Benjamin
Franklin was awarded the "very profitable Jobb" of printing
Pennsylvania bills of credit, partly because he had written and published
a pamphlet on the need for paper currency in 1729. He was similarly
employed by New Jersey and Delaware. Aware of the threat from counterfeiters,
Franklin devised the use of mica in the paper and leaf imprints as
ways to foil counterfeiters--both of these methods can be seen in
these samples of currency printed by Franklin and his partner David
Hall and later by the firm of Hall and William Sellers.
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The Art of Making Money Plenty in
Every Man's Pocket by Doctor Franklin.
New York: P. Maverick, 1817
Enlarged version
Rare Book & Special Collections
Division (51)
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The Art of Making Money
This humorous rendition of Franklin's teaching that honesty, industry,
and frugality are the keys to full pockets has continued to be a
popular souvenir since it was first printed as a rebus in 1791. Here
the familiar image of Franklin in a fur cap is one that introduced
Franklin to France in 1777. |
Franklin's First Book
While working as a printer in London, Franklin published his first
pamphlet at nineteen. In this metaphysical piece, a reply to William
Wollaston's The Religion of Nature Delineated, Franklin argued
that if God was infinite wisdom and goodness, vice and virtue were
empty distinctions. After distributing a few copies to his
friends, Franklin became disenchanted with his reasoning and destroyed
all remaining copies but one.
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Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790).
A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure
and Pain.
London, 1725
Rare Book & Special Collections
Division (52)
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[Benjamin Franklin].
Poor Richard, 1739. An Almanack for the Year
of Christ 1739.
Philadelphia: Printed and Sold by B. Franklin, 1738
Rare Book & Special Collections
Division (53)
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Poor Richard's Almanack
As a writer, Franklin was best known for the wit and wisdom he shared
with the readers of his popular almanac, Poor Richard, under
the pseudonym "Richard Saunders." In his autobiography,
Franklin notes that he began publishing his almanac in 1732 and continued
for twenty-five years: "I endeavour'd to make it both entertaining
and useful, and it accordingly came to be in such Demand that I reap'd
considerable Profit from it, vending annually near ten Thousand." |
The Way to Wealth
For his twenty-fifth almanac, for the year 1758, Franklin created
a clever preface that reprised a number of proverbs from the almanac,
framed as an event reported by Richard Saunders, in which Father
Abraham advises a crowd attending a country auction that those seeking
prosperity and virtue should diligently practice frugality and industry.
Reprinted as Father Abraham's Speech and The Way to Wealth,
this piece has been translated into many languages and is the most
extensively reprinted of all of Franklin's writings. This is the
first broadside edition, a popular format that allowed it to be tacked
up on walls and distributed by clergy and gentry. |
Richard Saunders [Benjamin Franklin].
The Way to Wealth, and a Plan by which Every
Man may pay his Taxes.
Philadelphia: Printed by Daniel Humphreys, 1785
Enlarged version
Rare Book & Special Collections
Division (53A)
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Benjamin Franklin
"Observations Relative to the Intentions
of the Original Founders of the Academy in Philadelphia," June, 1789
Page 2
Manuscript essay
Manuscript Division (56)
Partial Transcription |
"Public Education for Our Youth"
Throughout his life Benjamin Franklin had worked to educate the
youth and citizens of Philadelphia. In this essay, he discussed his
efforts to found a public subscription library in 1732, while seeking
improvements in the governing of the Philadelphia Academy in 1789.
When he died, Franklin left substantial bequests to fund public education
in Philadelphia and Boston. By 1990, the remaining funds, totally
more than seven million dollars, were distributed to schools and
scholarship funds. |
Franklin's Autobiography
Franklin was sixty-five when he wrote the first part of his autobiography
that focused on his early life to 1730. During the 1780s he added
three briefer parts that advanced his story to his fiftieth year
(1756) and revised the first part. In the summer of 1790, shortly
after his death, extracts of Franklin's memoirs appeared in two Philadelphia
magazines, but the first book-length edition, based on a French translation,
was published in 1791. The first English edition was published in
London in 1793. Although William Temple Franklin's 1818 edition became
the standard version, John Bigelow's 1858 edition was the first complete
publication of all four parts taken directly from Franklin's own
manuscript. |
[Benjamin Franklin]
The Private Life of the Late Benjamin Franklin,
LL.D. Late Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States of America to France, &c.
London, Printed for J. Parsons, 1793
Rare Book & Special Collections
Division (60)
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