Pp. 2-5 include an essay on smallpox and its treatment: "But of all the Improvements, none have been found equal to that of Innoculation, whereby the Chance in that Disease has been found to be, at the least, as One to Seventy, and, in some Instances, as One to Two Hundred, and Two Hundred and Sixty-seven; whereas in the natural Way, One in Four to Seven have usually died. .."
From Catalog II
Poor Richard's Almanac was Franklin's most democratic publication: the vehicle through which he reached farmers, merchants, and artisans across the colonies with the moral philosophy of the self-made man. The homespun wisdom of Richard Saunders masked a sophisticated rhetorical project -- the formation of habits appropriate to a commercial republic. Rush understood this project precisely because he was doing the same thing in medical form: reaching ordinary people with the physician's knowledge, bypassing the medical establishment's gatekeeping, speaking directly to the body politic.
Accession
BF-2022.026
Date
ca. 1733–1758
Author / maker
Franklin, Benjamin
Condition
[36] pp. Wood cut illus. Leaves 5/6, 29/30 (preserves a fragment of the original leaf), and 35/36 supplied in facsimile. Toned, frayed, else a very good copy in 3/4-morocco and marbled boards.
