To Benjamin Franklin from Joseph-Etienne Bertier, [before October 1778]
From Joseph-Etienne Bertier4
AL: American Philosophical Society
[before October, 1778]5
Le P. Bertier présente ses respects et ce livre à l’illustre Mr. Franklin. Un de ses confrères est charmé de cette occasion pour avoir l’honeur de connoître personellement un homme qu’il connoît depuis long-tems par sa réputation et par ses écrits.
Addressed: Optimo Doctori / Franklin / A Passy
[Note numbering follows the Franklin Papers source.]
4. Father Bertier was BF’s confrère both at the Académie des Sciences in Paris and at the Royal Society in London: XXIII, 94 n. The book in question is probably his own Histoire des premiers temps du monde … (Paris, 1778). BF presented a copy of it, perhaps this one, to the APS in June, 1786.
5. A review of Bertier’s book appeared in the October, 1778, issue of the Monthly Review, pp. 299–300.