4201Franklin and Hall: Accounts, 1748–1766 (Franklin Papers)
MS Account Book: American Philosophical Society This ledger, labeled “Franklin & Hall No. 1,” contains four separate lists and accounts relating to David Hall’s operation of the partnership of Franklin and Hall from 1748 to 1766. Three are lists of cash payments for printing work; the fourth is an invoice of books and stationery in Franklin’s shop when the partnership began. The amounts...
4202[Shavers and Trimmers; and To the Publick, 23 and 30 June 1743] (Franklin Papers)
Printed in The Pennsylvania Gazette , June 23 and 30, 1743. The first of these pieces, to which Smyth gave the title “Shavers and Trimmers” when he reprinted both ( Writings , ii , 232–6), appeared in the Gazette , June 23, 1743. It was inspired by a barber’s advertising the week before that he intended to give up shaving and trimming to confine himself to wigmaking. The essay is a...
4203Preface to Cato’s Moral Distichs, [18 December 1735] (Franklin Papers)
Cato’s Moral Distichs Englished in Couplets. Philadelphia: Printed and Sold by B. Franklin, 1735. Pp. iii–iv. (Yale University Library) The Printer to the Reader . The Manuscript Copy of this Translation of Cato’s Moral Distichs , happened into my Hands some Time since, and being my self extreamly pleased with it, I thought it might be no less acceptable to the Publick; and therefore...
4204Comments on Turgot’s Plan for a Single Tax, [after 3 July? 1777] (Franklin Papers)
Reprinted from Gustave Schelle, ed., Œuvres de Turgot et documents le concernant (5 vols., Paris, 1913–34), V , 516. Three documents in Turgot’s published works reflect an exchange between him and Franklin that is more apparent than real. The first is a long memorandum by the former minister, arguing the case for a single tax on land. The second is Franklin’s response, doubting whether the...
4205On Amplification, 17 June 1736 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in The Pennsylvania Gazette , June 17, 1736. Amplification, or the Art of saying Little in Much , seems to be principally studied by the Gentlemen Retainers to the Law. ’Tis highly useful when they are to speak at the Bar; for by its Help, they talk a great while, and appear to say a great deal, when they have really very little to say. But ’tis principally us’d in Deeds and every...
4206An Expostulation, 3 November 1770 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in The Public Advertiser , Nov. 3, 1770 For the Public Advertiser An American , to those Englishmen who virulently write and talk against his Countrymen , sends this Expostulation: If it be true, as some of you say it is, that our Non-Importation Agreements are not observed, but that we clandestinely import and consume as much British Goods as ever, why are you so angry with us, and...
4207Poor Richard, 1734 (Franklin Papers)
Poor Richard, 1734. An Almanack For the Year of Christ 1734 … By Richard Saunders, Philom. Philadelphia: Printed and sold by B. Franklin, at the New Printing-Office near the Market (Yale University Library). Your kind and charitable Assistance last Year, in purchasing so large an Impression of my Almanacks, has made my Circumstances much more easy in the World, and requires my grateful...
4208Rules and Statutes of the College, Academy, and Charity School; Laws and Statutes of the Trustees, 11 July 1755 (Franklin Papers)
MS Minutes: Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania The trustees of the College of Philadelphia on June 10 (see above, p. 29) appointed Franklin and five others to examine and report on a draft of rules and statutes, probably prepared by Franklin himself, which had been submitted to the board for adoption. On July 11 Franklin reported as president that the committee had considered the draft...
4209Contract between the Secret Committee and John Brown, [before 20 January 1776]: résumé (Franklin Papers)
Copy with DS by Nicholas Brown: John Carter Brown Library <[Before Jan. 20, 1776]: Agreed between John Brown on the one part and members of the committee on the other that a voyage or voyages will be undertaken to procure thirty-six tons of gunpowder (or, failing that, sufficient saltpetre and sulphur to make up the same amount), 1,000 stand of good arms, 1,000 gun locks, twenty tons of lead,...
4210Marginalia in a Pamphlet by Josiah Tucker, [on or after 22 December 1776] (Franklin Papers)
MS notations in the margins of a copy in the Library of Congress of [Josiah Tucker,] A Series of Answers to Certain Popular Objections, against Separating from the Rebellious Colonies, and Discarding Them Entirely; Being the Concluding Tract of the Dean of Gloucester, on the Subject of American Affairs (Gloucester, 1776). These are the first marginalia by Franklin that deserve extensive...