To Benjamin Franklin from John Walter, 23 January 1785
From John Walter
ALS: American Philosophical Society
London Jany. 23d. 1785.
Sir,
By your Grandson I had the Honor to transmit you a Copy of the first Letter in the Alphabet in the Mode I pursue in printing, which I hope came safe to Hand, though the Rect I am not honor’d with an Acknowledgemt. of.9
Several Books having been issued from my Press on various Subjects among the rest Adams on Electricity1 & the first Volume of a Series of Works which your Grandson was so polite to set down your Name for as a Subscriber, which is likewise honor’d by the Duk[es of] Richmond & Northumberland, Earls of Bute & Ma[nsfield] Ld. Romney Sr. Jos. Banks & about 150 other very respectable Names & I flatter myself to place his Majesty’s Name at the Head of it—2
If you will please to signify by what Conveyance I shall send You the first Vol: which is in twelves, & 17 others (of which Dr. Watts on the Improvement of the Mind will be the first) will be all in Octavo—3 It shall be sent to your Order by Sir Your Much Oblig’d & Obedt Servt
John Walter.
Dr. Franklin—
Addressed: Dr. Franklin / at Passy near / Paris
9. Before WTF left London, Walter sent him two sets of handwritten tables (one for BF, the other for the comte d’Adhémar) representing the arrangement of a case of logographic type for all words beginning with the letter A. Each set contained a “specimen” for the English, French, and Latin languages. In his cover letter, Walter expressed regret that he had not been able to meet with WTF in person, and offered to provide BF with “any other Information he may require” concerning logography, though he believed that he had already given BF a complete explanation: Walter to WTF, Nov. 15, 1784, APS; Specimens of Logography, APS.
1. George Adams, An Essay on Electricity … (2nd ed., London, 1785) was advertised as “Printed at the Logographic Press”: [London] Daily Universal Register, Feb. 15, 1785.
2. Walter advertised this subscription in a circular dated Sept. 6, 1784: Proposals for Publishing by Subscription, in a Superior Stile, a Series of Works of the Most eminent Authors. For a fee of five guineas, patrons would receive one volume every month until, at the rate of six shillings per volume, the fee had been expended. The king never did subscribe, a fact that Walter attributed to his seeing BF’s name on the subscriber list: Walter to BF, July 18, 1789 (APS).
3. The first publication, in duodecimo, was Miscellanies in Prose and Verse Intended as a Specimen of the Types, at the Logographic Printing Office (London, 1785), announced for sale in the London Gen. Evening Post, issue of Jan. 27–29. The first of the books in octavo was I[saac] Watts, The Improvement of the Mind … (London, 1785).