From Benjamin Franklin to a Committee of the Library Company of Philadelphia, 25 July 1774
To a Committee of the Library Company of Philadelphia
ALS: Historical Society of Pennsylvania
London, July 25. 1774.
Gentlemen
I send herewith per Capt. Falconer, a Box directed for the Library Company, containing the following new Books, which I hope will be agreeable to them; viz.
Sketches of the History of Man per Lord Kaims, 2 Vols 4to.
Letters of Lady Caroline Russel 4to.
Discovery of new northern Archipelago, 8vo.
Warton’s History of English Poetry. 4to.
Leland’s History of Ireland, 3 Vols. 4to.
Campbell’s political Survey of G Britain, 2 Vols 4to.
Lord Chesterfield’s Letters, 4 Vols 8vo.
Bryant’s ancient Mythology, 2 Vols 4to.
In another Box directed for the Philosophical Society, I send also for the Library Co.
Pennants Journeys into Scotland, 2 Vols 4to5
Please to apply for these to Dr. Rush. With my best Wishes of Success to the Institution, and Esteem for yourselves and the other Directors, I am, Gentlemen, Your most obedient humble Servant
B Franklin
Messrs. Samuel Rhoads
Robt Strettell Jones
Josiah Hewes
Addressed: To / Messrs Samuel Rhoads, / Robt Strettell Jones / Josiah Hewes / per Capt Falconer Philadelphia
Endorsed: Ltr: from Dr: Franklin July 25th: 1774
5. This shipment, unlike the one discussed in BF’s letter above of Feb. 18, appears to have been of his own choosing. The books in the order of their listing were: (1) a work by BF’s old friend, Henry Home, Lord Kames, Sketches of the History of Man (2 vols., Edinburgh, 1774); (2) Thomas Sellwood, ed., Letters of Lady Rachel Russell … (London, 1773); (3) the recent translation from the German of Jakob Stälin von Storcksburg, An Account of the New Northern Archipelago, Lately Discovered by the Russians … (London, 1774); (4) the first volume of what became a much longer opus, Thomas Warton, The History of English Poetry … (4 vols., London, 1774–81); (5) Thomas Leland, The History of Ireland from the Invasion of Henry II … (3 vols., London, 1773); (6) John Campbell, A Political Survey of Britain, Being a Series of Reflections on the Situation, Lands, Inhabitants, Revenues, Colonies, and Commerce of This Island … (2 vols., London, 1774); (7) the second edition of Letters Written by the … Earl of Chesterfield, to His Son, Philip Stanhope … (4 vols., London, 1774); (8) the first two volumes of Jacob Bryant, A New System, or, an Analysis of Ancient Mythology … (3 vols., London, 1774–76); (9) two separate works, in all likelihood, by Thomas Pennant, A Tour in Scotland: MDCCLXIX … (3rd ed., Warrington, 1774), and A Tour in Scotland, and Voyage to the Hebrides, MDCCLXXII (Chester, 1774).