FINE, PRIVATELY PRINTED PORTRAIT OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, PROOF ON PARCHMENT PAPER SIGNED BY ETCHER W.H.W. BICKNELL, WITH DUPLICATE CANCELLED PLATE
(FRANKLIN, Benjamin) BICKNELL, William Henry Warren. Etching signed (Portrait of Benjamin Franklin). [Boston]: Bibliophile Society, circa 1910. Two folio sheets, each measuring 15 by 17-1/2 inches, housed in original cardboard portfolio with red cloth spine, remnants of silk ties; entire piece measures 17 by 21-1/2 inches.
Limited edition pair of remarque proofs, "issued exclusively to members of the Bibliophile Society," of Benjamin Franklin, in two states: one on thick wove paper, cancelled; the other, on parchment paper, signed in pencil in the margin by artist William Bicknell.
Benjamin Franklin was a bibliophile. At his death in 1790, his library held more than four thousand volumes. Appropriately, then, W.H.W. Bicknell's etched portrait of the Founding Father, issued exclusively to members of Boston's Bibliophile Society, pictures the venerable man seated in a chair, his right hand holding a book. The remarque (small vignette image) in the margins depict a bespectacled Franklin in his fur hat. Although the limitation of this pair of proofs is unstated, the Bibliophile Society issued most of its exclusive editions between 1901 and 1939 in limitations of about 500 copies.
Cancelled plate with slight embrowning to edges, not affecting image. Mild foxing to portfolio. Fine condition.