Franklin, Benjamin. Works of the Late Dr. Benjamin Franklin; Consisting of His Life, Written By Himself, Together With Essays, Humorous, Moral & Literary; Chiefly On The Manner of The Spectator. Samuel Campbell, New York, 1794.

Price: US$750.00 + shipping

Condition: Fine

Description: Condition: FINE. [TWO VOLUMES IN ONE: 206 & 139] Full leather volume with rich patina, normal corner bumps, title faded on spine but letters clear. Book is as tight as new. Some small clean page tears here and there; only serious flaw is the part of page 48 in Volume I is missing. Browning and foxing throughout, but easily readable. Prev/owner's markings on first endpaper and title page. This volume contains Ben Franklin's writings on his own life, as well as extracts from his Will, in which he bequeaths money to the free schools of Boston where he was first taught as a child. A delightful surprise deep in the text between two pages is well-dried four-leaf clover, left by an earlier reader. The book includes the epitaph Dr. Franklin wrote for his tombstone: "Here lies the body of Benjamin Franklin, Printer, (Like The Cover On An Old Book, Its Contents Torn Out And Stript of Its Lettering And Gilding) Lies Here Food For The Worms; Yet The Work Itself Shall Not Be Lost, For It Will (As He Believed) Appear Once More, In A New And Beautiful Edition, Corrected And Ammended By The Author." Book is a splendid addition to any library of history or biography.

Seller: Shadetree Rare Books, Chatham, VA, U.S.A.

Franklin, Benjamin. Works of the Late Dr. Benjamin Franklin; Consisting of His Life, Written by Himself, Together with Essays, Humourous, Moral & Literary. Samuel Campbell, New York, 1794.

Price: US$1750.00 + shipping

Description: Stated on the title as the Second American Edition. Frontispiece portrait engraved by Benjamin Tanner. v, [1], 206; 142pp. K1 and P4 torn with loss to lower corner affecting text. 12mo. "The most widely read of all American autobiographies . this book holds the essence of the American way of life" (Grolier, American). First published in Paris in French in 1791, the first American edition appearing in New York in 1794 published by Tiebout & Obrian. Subsequent "Second American editions" appeared in New York (by Samuel Campbell) and in Philadelphia (by Benjamin Johnson). Evans 27009; ESTC W17369; Ford 443; Sabin 25601; cf. Grolier American 21 Contemporary calf, worn. Browning and soiling, a few paper flaws and other faults Frontispiece portrait engraved by Benjamin Tanner. v, [1], 206; 142pp. K1 and P4 torn with loss to lower corner affecting text. 12mo Stated on the title as the Second American Edition.

Seller: James Cummins Bookseller, ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.