Benjamin Franklin | Poor Richard … for the Year 1749

Benjamin Franklin

Poor Richard improved: Being an Almanack and Ephemeris of the Motions of the Sun and Moon … For the Year of our Lord 1749. … Fitted to the Latitude of forty degrees, and a Meridian of near five hours west from London; but may, without sensible error, serve all the Northern Colonies. Philadelphia: Printed and Sold by B. Franklin and D. Hall, [1748]

12mo (165 x 102 mm, uncut). Woodcut borders, anatomical man, and monthly panels; some browning, occasional spotting, and staining. Sewn self-wrappers; some browning and staining. Housed in custom folding-case.

First edition, second impression, described by Miller as the first Poor Richard for which David Hall had full responsibility for printing. This copy was among those intended for local distribution, with a “Table for the more ready casting up of Coins, in Pennsylvania” printed on page 35. The section on “How to get riches” supplies the famous Poor Richard precept: “The Art of getting Riches consists very much in thrift.”

REFERENCES

Miller 442; ESTC W22784; Evans 6139; Drake 9706