Books and Manuscripts

[Franklin, Benjamin]
The Charters of the Province of Pensilvania and City of Philadelphia
Philadelphia: Printed and Sold by B(enjamin). Franklin, 1742 (but 1743). First edition. Three parts bound in one volume, comprising: "The Charters of the Province of Pensilvania and City of Philadelphia" and "A Collection of all the Laws of the Province of Pennsylvania: Now in Force" and "An Appendix; Containing a Summary of Such Acts of Assembly..." Folio. 30; 562; iv, 24, xi pp.; lacking front free endpaper. Contemporary full brown calf, stamped in blind, boards and spine rubbed and worn, corners worn, small loss at top of spine; all edges trimmed; soiling, dampstaining, and scattered foxing to text; rear blank and free endpaper starting; contemporary ink scrawl on front paste-down; contemporary ownership inscription of Elizabeth Patterson at bottom of title-page: "Elizabeth Patterson is my Name And Germantown…", p. (XII) of Table at rear: "Elizabeth Patterson her law book"; two contemporary ownership inscriptions of James Patterson, dated 1767 and 1772 on rear blank, with his name signed on rear free endpaper; numerous other contemporary or near-contemporary inscriptions on rear free endpaper; in quarter tan morocco fall-down-back box. Miller 288; Evans 5033; Hildeburn 755 a-c

First edition of Benjamin Franklin's important printing of the Charter and Laws of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia, with contemporary female ownership. In 1737 the Pennsylvania Assembly deemed it necessary to update its printed Laws, and appointed Speaker and Attorney General of the Province, John Kinsey, along with Thomas Leech, and Isaac Norris, to supervise the task. They completed their revised edition in 1741, and turned the material over to Franklin, then official printer to the Province, for its printing. The Assembly paid Franklin £261 for the work, and it took him two years to complete, publishing it in the spring of 1743 (one year later than the date on the volume's imprint). Of those printed, 120 copies were retained for public use, and later that summer Franklin offered the remaining for sale. The laws cover a wide swathe of subjects, including real estate, wills, roads, maritime issues, liquor, slavery, writs and summonses, currency, acts related to the judiciary, laws related to Native Americans, witchcraft, and more.

The title-page and verso of final text leaf bear an interesting contemporary inscription of an Elizabeth Patterson, one noting her location as Germantown, and the other indicating that the volume was her own law book. A James Patterson, likely father or husband, also has inscribed the volume, indicating that this volume was his law book in 1767 and in 1772.