The Charters of the Province of Pensilvania and City of Philadelphia

Franklin's folio of the Pennsylvania charters and laws, printed by order of the Assembly and issued in 1743 under a 1742 title page. The volume binds three works printed by B. Franklin: The Charters of the Province of Pensilvania and City of Philadelphia, A Collection of All the Laws of the Province of Pennsylvania Now in Force, and An Appendix summarizing the acts of Assembly formerly in force that had since expired, been altered or been repealed.

This is the first edition. The Assembly allotted 120 copies for public use. It was the working book of the province, the volume a magistrate, a lawyer or a member of the Assembly reached for when he needed to know what the law was.

This copy carries an owner's inscription dated 1754. It later belonged to the Philadelphia publisher Zachariah Poulson Jr., a younger contemporary of Franklin.