Benjamin Franklin | Poor Richard ... for the year 1740

Benjamin Franklin

Poor Richard, 1740. An Almanack for the Year of Christ 1740 ... Fitted to the Latitude of forty degrees, and a Meridian of five hours west from London, but may without sensible error, serve all the adjacent places, even from Newfoundland to South-Carolina. Philadelphia: Printed and Sold by B. Franklin, at the New Printing-Office near the Market, [1739]

Foolscap 8vo (162 x 92 mm, 11 of 12 leaves). Woodcut borders and anatomical man; final leaf in facsimile, some browning, staining, and foxing, long closed tear to second and third leaves, one or two instances of early marginalia. Half brown morocco and marbled paper-covered boards, spine gilt-lettered.

Third edition—the Laird Park copy. This third edition was announced in the Gazette as "just published" on 10 January 1740 (Papers of Benjamin Franklin, ed. Labaree, 2:244).

REFERENCES

Miller 163; ESTC W22776; Evans 4364; Hildeburn 606a–b; Drake 9616–9618

PROVENANCE

Daniel Brown (ownership inscription dated 1739–40 to margin of second leaf) — John Brown (contemporary signature to fifth leaf) — Laird U. Park, Jr. (his sale, Sotheby's New York, 29 November 2000, lot 97)