This copy is the very rare first issue, with the instructions to the binder placed just a trifle above the middle of the final page and without advertisements on that page. The first edition of Franklin's collected works to be published in the United States; this includes the Autobiography and a variety of essays. As such, it marks the first American printing of any part of Franklin's Autobiography, one of the most famous of all American memoirs, This edition of the Works is a straight reprint of the 1793 London first edition of this collection, edited by Benjamin Vaughan. With a portrait of Franklin as the frontispiece. Issues as two volumes bound in one.
Date
1794
Condition
[1794]. [2],[5]- 174:[3]-139,[1, insructions to binder],[2 contents] pp. Portrait Frontis. 16mo. Rebound in period style calf, gilt-ruled spine with original spine label laid down. Light scattered foxing. Very Good.
References
Howes F-323 "b", Ford, Franklin Bibliography 441, Evans 27007, Sabin 25601 (for the second American Edition)
Cite this object as“The Works of the Late Dr. Benjamin Franklin.” The Soiferman Collection, Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. EIS LIBRIS, https://eislibris.com/objects/the-works-of-the-late-dr-benjamin-franklin (accessed [date]).
