From Benjamin Franklin to John Ladd, 12 June 1738
To John Ladd5
Transcript: Historical Society of Haddonfield (N.J.)
June 12, 1738
Sir
I send you the Ladies Library and the other two Vols. of Don Quixote.
The Homers I have are done by Pope. The Iliads are in 6 Vols. 12mo price 45s. The Odysseys 5 Vols. 12mo price 37s. 6d. I will not part with them till I hear from you.6 I am Sir Your most humble Servant
B. Franklin
5. John Ladd (d. 1770), of Gloucester Co., N.J.; surveyor; justice of the peace, 1739; elected to the Assembly, 1754; appointed to the Governor’s Council, 1763. I N.J. Arch., IX, 395; X, 224–5; XII, 415; XV, 97; Warren Ladd, The Ladd Family (New Bedford, Mass., 1890), pp. 311–14.
6. In Pa. Gaz., May 25, 1738, and later issues, BF advertised a list of books “Just Imported,” which included The Ladies’ Library, 3 vols. 12mo., and Pope’s Homer, 11 vols. 12mo. Ladd’s purchase of The Ladies’ Library and Don Quixote is recorded in BF’s Shop Book (see above, p. 127), June 9, 1738, where is also noted, July 19, his acquisition of “a Homer 11 Vol” for £4 2s. 6d. Sales of other books to Ladd are entered in BF’s Ledger D, p. 75 (see below, p. 232).