A Fine Collection of American Literature and History

A Fine Copy of the First English-Language Edition of Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography

London: Printed for J. Parsons, 1793. First edition in English. 8vo. xvi, 324 pp. With half-title. Old quarter tan calf over marbled paper-covered boards, red morocco spine label, stamped in gilt, upper front joint slightly worn, small chip head of spine; illustrated book-plate of Sir Walter Calverley Trevelyan, by William Bell Scott, on front paste-down. Ford 386; Howes F-323; Grolier 21

An excellent copy of the first English-language edition of Benjamin Franklin's famed autobiography, "the most widely read of all American autobiographies...it holds the essence of the American way of life" (Grolier 21). Franklin's autobiography was first published in any language in an unauthorized French edition in 1791 by Dr. Jacques Gibelin. Gibelin's work was based on an early, partial, and unrevised copy of Frankin's personal manuscript. Gibelin's edition was followed by a German-language and a Swedish-language edition, both in 1792, and then by this edition, which was translated back into English from Gibelin's French.

As Franklin's major literary achievement, his autobiography has received widespread popularity and is considered an enduring example of the genre. It was written at different intervals over his long life, and was left incomplete at his death in 1790. By that time he had completed only four parts, covering his childhood, his apprenticeship and flight to Philadelphia, his success as a printer and his accomplishments as a scientist, and finally his political achievements in Pennsylvania, terminating in the year 1759. This edition, composed as a letter to his son, William--with whom he would become estranged during the American Revolution--contains the first part of this narrative, and chronicles Franklin's first 25 years, ending in 1731. Franklin penned this portion while in England from July through August, 1771. Since the first complete edition based on Franklin's manuscripts did not appear until 1868, early editions like this were often supplemented with work from other authors to complete the narrative of his life. As with the 1791 French edition, this volume ends with an account taken from an anonymously printed memoir of Franklin's life that appeared in 1790, and that has since been attributed to a Mr. Wilmer.

Sir Walter Calverley Trevelyan (1797-1879) was an English naturalist and geologist. Educated at Harrow, he graduated from University College, Oxford in 1822. He was elected a fellow of the Geological Society in 1817, of Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1822, and of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1854.