To Benjamin Franklin from Peter Elmsly, 12 September 1783
From Peter Elmsly9
AL: American Philosophical Society
Paris 12 Septr. 1783.
Mr. Elmsly presents his respects to Dr. Franklin and Sends him the inclosed,1 if the Dr. has any Parcel for England, that Mr E. Can take with him, He will be So good as send it to Mr Pissots2 & great care Shall be taken of it. Mr E. has sent to Mr P. four parts of the Phil: Transact: from Sr. Joseph Banks for Dr Franklin,3 they will be Sent him as Soon as the Bale arrives.
Addressed: Dr Franklin
Notation: Elmsey 12 Sept. 1783
9. The important London bookseller who specialized in the French trade: XXV, 91; ODNB.
1. Probably John Calder’s letter of Aug. 28.
2. The Paris bookseller Noël-Jacques Pissot (1724?–1804) worked with his son Laurent-Noël and specialized in trade with England. He was Joseph Banks’s preferred source for French books, and after the war handled the subscriptions to French journals for Banks as well as the king and queen of England: XXXV, 367n; Jean-Dominique Mellot and Elisabeth Queval, Répertoire d’imprimeurs/libraires XVIe–XVIIIe siècle: état en 1995 (Paris, 1997); Neil Chambers, ed., Scientific Correspondence of Sir Joseph Banks, 1765–1820 (6 vols., London, 2007), II, 143, 262.
3. See Banks to BF, Aug. 25. The four volumes must have been parts I and II of Phil. Trans., LXXI (1781) and LXXII (1782). The last of these was issued in early August, 1783, and was the last volume BF had received when he next inquired about his subscription: Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser, Aug. 6, 1783; BF to Banks, Aug. 21, 1784 (British Library).