[MECOM, Benjamin]. A Letter to an Honourable Gentleman of the Council-Board, for the Colony of Connecticut,

[TRUMBULL, Benjamin]. A Letter to an Honourable Gentleman of the Council-Board, for the Colony of Connecticut, Shewing that Yale-College Is a Very Great Emolument, and of High Importance to the State: Consequently, That It Is the Interest and Duty of the Commonwealth to Afford It Publick Countenance and Support: and Wherein Such Objections Are Considered and Obviated as Would Probably Be Made Against the Tenor of Such Reasoning. By a Friend of College, the Church and His Country. New-Haven: Printed by B. Mecom, 1766. 1st ed. Small 4to. 26pp. Sewn. Light foxing, else very good or better.

Trumbull points out the great importance of Yale College to church, state, and the public at large, hoping to ensure support from the Assembly after the controversial presidency of Thomas Clap. "Written immediately after President Clap's resignation, to influence the Assembly to a new policy"--Sabin 105935.

Printed by Benjamin Mecom, son of Benjamin Franklin's favorite sister, Jane. Mecom (1732-1766) had been apprentice to Franklin's partner James Parker in New York. His uncle set him up as a printer in Antigua, a venture in which Mecom failed. Mecom returned to America, where he unsuccessfully had presses in Boston, New York, and New Haven.

From Catalog III

An argument for public support of Yale from the New Haven press of Franklin's nephew — the last of the shops his uncle set up for him after Antigua, Boston, and New York. Mecom had apprenticed with Parker; he had Franklin's blood and none of his luck.