Description

Easton Press leather edition of "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin," a COLLECTOR'S edition, illustrated with Historical Photos , Frontispiece portrait of Franklin, Introduction by Carl Van Doren, one of the 100 GREATEST BOOKS EVER WRITTEN series, published in 2004. Bound in hunter green leather, the book has camel tan moire silk end leaves, acid-free paper, Symth-sewn binding, hubbed spine, a satin book marker, gold gilding on three edges---in FINE condition. Benjamin Franklin, who lived from 1706--1790, was born in Boston but secretly sailed to New York at the age of seventeen. Finding no work, he headed to PHILADELPHIA where at the age of twenty-two he opened his own printing shop. Using the name Richard Saunders, Franklin wrote that he was poor but his wife was proud and "could not sit spinning in her shift" while he did nothing but gaze at the stars. Scattered among the proverbs were Franklin's rules of health and "hints for those that would be rich." With profits from the sales of the "Almanacks," Franklin paid off his debts and opened a shop near the Philadelphia market place, selling books, paper and parchment, perfumed soap and Rhode island cheese, pamphlets, tea, coffee and sack. Franklin organized the first police force and the first fire departments and formed the academy that was to become the University of Pennsylvania. Franklin wrote, became the postmaster of Philadelphia in 1737 and in 1751, he was elected member of the Assembly for the City of Philadelphia. Franklin married Deborah Read and she helped Franklin in the Post Office. Franklin was a Founding Father of the U.S., a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, free mason, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. As an inventor, he is known for the lighting rod, bifocals and the Franklin stove. As the first U.S. Ambassador to France, he exemplified the emerging American nation. Franklin was foundational in defining the American ethos as a marriage of the practical values of thrift, hard work, education, community spirit, self-governing institutions, and opposition to authoritarianism both political and religious. An accomplished diplomat, he was widely admired among the French as American minister to Paris. Franklin became famous for his proverbs such as: "Who riseth late trots all day, because he is behind in his business," "The Tongue talks at the head's costs," or "Nothing can be humbler than ambition, when it is so disposed." "Haste makes waste," "Eat to live, and not live to eat," "Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards." Franklin began his "Memoirs" in England, during a visit at the country house of Jonathan Shipley. He set down to write something about his life in the form of a letter to his son WILLIAM FRANKLIN, then royal governor of New Jersey. Because Franklin never printed the book, it has appeared in various texts. The work opens with the line: "Dear Son, I have ever had a Pleasure in obtaining any little Anecdotes of my Ancestors. You may remember the Enquiries I made among the Remains of my Relations when you were with me in England. . ." THOMAS JEFFERSON, who replaced Franklin as minister to France, wrote in 1791, "The succession to Dr. Franklin at the court of France was an excellent school of humility. No one can replace him, I am only his successor." 233 pages. I offer Combined shipping.