Books and Manuscripts

[Franklin, Benjamin] Ames, Nathaniel
An Astronomical Diary; or Almanack For the Year of our Lord Christ 1771...
No place, (1770). 12mo. (24) pp. Printed stab-sewn self wrappers; edges untrimmed; very small ink blot in bottom left corner of all leaves; chipping and wear along edges of text; sheets darkened; spotting on front and rear wrappers, and scattered in text; scattered contemporary marginalia; ownership signature of Mary Lewis, dated 1828, on p. (17). Drake 3194; Bristol B3138; Shipton & Mooney 42053

A scarce edition of Nathaniel Ames's almanac for 1771, featuring Benjamin Franklin's famous mock epitaph on p. (4), composed by him when he was just 22-years old: “The Body of Benjamin Franklin, / Printer, / Like the Covering of an old Book, / Its Contents torn out, / and stript of its Lettering and Gilding, / Lies here, Food for Worms; / But the Work shall not be lost, / It will (as he believed) appear once more, / In a new and more beautiful Edition, / Corrected and amended / By the Author. / He was born January 6th, 1706, and / died _____17___”. 

Lyman H. Butterfield was unable to find a printing of Franklin's epitaph earlier than in the Ames editions for 1771. The text is believed to be based on a holographic copy in Franklin's hand owned by his sister, Jane Mecom. Of the eight 1771 Ames's editions, this edition is “apparently a pirated edition, not similar typographically to other known editions for 1771.” (Evans)