To Benjamin Franklin from James Woodmason, 1 November 1780
From James Woodmason
ALS: American Philosophical Society
Novemr. 1 1780
Sir
Your esteem’d favour of the 26 Sept: came duly to hand covering a Bill for 25 £. conformable to your Order I shipped 3 Copying Machines with Paper & Ink Powder. I doubt not but you will find the Machines much approved off. The Patentees have found that their Ink Powder will not entirely dissolve the best way of making Ink from it is to mix the Powder with proper quantity of Water in an open Vessel & to let it stand for 48 hours, & then pour it off. I find that the Patentees have also improved their Paper, but I have none of it yet.
I have the pleasure to acquaint you that I have receivd an Order for the finest Royal for the Large 4to: Edit of Voltaire. & I understand that they have not finally determined on what Paper to have for the other 4to: Edition. I must beg you to accept of my warmest thanks for your friendly recommendation.5 I am Sir Your most Obedt. hble Servt
James Woodmason
P.S. Freight cou’d not be paid in London, the Captain not knowing the Exchange
| 3 Patent Copying Machines | @£6/6s. | £18. | 18. | 0 |
| 3 Sett of Case’s for do | 6s. | 18 | ||
| 3 Ream’s Extra la thin | ||||
| Copying Post | 18s. | 2. | 14. | 0 |
| 1 dozen Copyg Ink Powder | 9. | 0 | ||
| Packing Case to Contain the whole | 15. | 0 | ||
| Entry Shipping Expences &c | 1. | 0. | 0 | |
| £24. | 14. | 0 |
Address’d to Mr. Francis Bowen Mercht Ostend
Benjn. Franklin Esqr.
Addressed: Dr: Franklin / a Passey near / Paris
Notations: Woodmason. Nov. 1. 1780. / Ansd May 81
5. Woodmason had traveled to Paris with samples of fine wove paper in June, 1779, hoping to secure an order from Beaumarchais for the playwright’s projected publication in Kehl of Voltaire’s writings: XXX, 609–10. Over the course of the project’s troubled history, Beaumarchais’ plans for editions of various dimensions and quality changed several times. The prospectus of January, 1781, advertised an octavo edition and two limited quarto editions, one of which would be a deluxe publication on royal stock (presumably this paper from Woodmason). Eventually, both quarto editions were abandoned; when volumes finally began to appear nearly four years after the prospectus, they were available in either octavo or duodecimo. A portion of Woodmason’s paper may have gone into the select “English paper” edition of Beaumarchais’ Mariage de Figaro, issued from the Kehl presses during this period: Giles Barber, “The Financial History of the Kehl Voltaire,” in The Age of Enlightenment: Studies presented to Theodore Besterman, W. H. Barber, et al., eds. (Edinburgh and London, 1967), pp. 155–60, 162; see also the references cited in XXX, 609n.