Printed and Manuscript Americana

The First Work From Benjamin Franklin's Press

Philadelphia: Printed and Sold by Samuel Keimer (and B. Franklin and H. Meredith), 1728. The Third Edition, Corrected (First American edition). Folio. 694, (16) pp. Full brown morocco, large portions of original front and rear board calf laid down, red morocco spine label, stamped in blind and in gilt, front board bowed; small repairs along edges of title-page, soiling to same; two near-contemporary female ownership inscriptions on verso title-page, one Sarah Haynes, dated ca. 1758 (bequeathed from her grandmother, Jane Chadwick, d. February 23, 1758), the other, Sarah Shoemaker, dated 1776; soiling, toning, and intermittent marginal dampstaining throughout text; bottom corner of 3R2 excised, but not affecting text; gutter, bottom, and fore-edge of final text leaf repaired, wrinkled, and soiled; Shoemaker's additional inscription at bottom p. 694, dated 1764. Miller 1; Evans 3104; Hildeburn 350

The first printing from Benjamin Franklin's Philadelphia press. First published in Dutch in Amsterdam in 1717, and then in English in London in 1722, Philadelphia printer Andrew Bradford was originally commissioned by the Monthly Meeting of Friends in Philadelphia to print the first American edition. Over the ensuing two years, between 1723-25, Bradford cooled on the idea, and after some confusion over his intent to print it, the Overseers of the Monthly Meeting hired Philadelphia printer Samuel Keimer in his place to finish the job. Over the next three years, work proceeded slowly, due to, as Keimer explained, a shortage of paper. To finally finish the work, Keimer engaged his former foreman, Benjamin Franklin, who was now the master of his own print shop. Franklin composed the sheets, while his partner, Hugh Meredith, struck them off the press. In total, the title-page and pp. 533-694 were printed by the two men.