(Franklin, Benjamin) | Catalogue of the famed library founded by Benjamin Franklin

(Franklin, Benjamin) — Library Company of Philadelphia

A Catalogue of the Books, Belonging to the Library Company of Philadelphia; to which is prefixed, a short account of the institution, with the charter, laws and regulations. Philadelphia: Zachariah Poulson, Jr, 1789

8vo (222 x 133 mm). Errata at end, uncut; light browning and spotting, mainly marginal. Bound to style in half calf with contemporary marbled paper-covered boards, gilt red morocco lettering piece to spine; boards very lightly scuffed.

A landmark Enlightenment-era catalogue from Franklin’s Library Company—issued while it served as the de facto Library of Congress.

The 1789 catalogue marks a pivotal moment in American intellectual history. Organized according to the Diderot Encyclopédie's tripartite division of knowledge—Memory, Reason, and Imagination—it departs from earlier alphabetical systems to present a radical, subject-driven arrangement of 4,000 titles. As James Green notes, the catalogue “brilliantly reconciled the book culture of the old world with the quotidian realities of the new.”

The Library Company, founded by Benjamin Franklin, was at this time the official library of Congress. This edition includes the charter, bylaws, and a 7-page list of members—among them Franklin himself—as well as a full index of authors.

REFERENCES:

Evans 22066; Sabin 61785; ESTC W42494; Winans 131