"THE BEGINNING OF ALL TRUE WISDOM AND HAPPINESS": SCARCE FIRST EDITION OF WILLIAM PENN'S FRUITS OF A FATHER'S LOVE, 1726
(PENN, William). Fruits of a Father's Love: Being the Advice of William Penn to His Children, Relating To Their Civil and Religious Conduct… By a Lover of His Memory. London: Printed and Sold by the Assigns of J. Sowle, 1726. 12mo (measures 3 by 5-1/2 inches), period-style three quarter calf gilt, red morocco spine label, drab paper boards; pp. (16), (1), 2-128.
First edition, first issue of a scarce posthumously published work by the preeminent Quaker and founder of Pennsylvania, encouraging the virtues of "plain-speaking, simplicity and moderation," an influential collection of adages and advice later sought out and read by a young Benjamin Franklin.
Penn, who made a daring move when he became a Quaker in 1667, founded Pennsylvania from 1681-82. There, in his self-described "holy experiment," Penn "wanted to establish a tolerant, moral society in which no one would be persecuted for his or her beliefs and in which the inhabitants would be free to make their own laws" (Soderlund, William Penn, 4-5). It is believed Penn wrote this inspirational work "for his children in 1699 before his second voyage to America, but it was not published until 1726, eight years after his death. His old friend Sir John Rhodes, who wrote the introduction, reported that the manuscript had been given to him some 20 years earlier by Penn. He had prepared it for the press as an expression of appreciation for Penn, and as a service to 'the world in general… [In it, Penn] suggested it is best to live on one-half of one's income, in order to be able to give generously to those in need, and to encourage simplicity in one's everyday life. He praised life near the soil, as compared with life in a city" (Bronner, 514-15). As a young man Benjamin Franklin read Penn's Fruits of a Father's Love "four years after his arrival in Philadelphia," possibly sparking his own love of adages and advice in Poor Richard's Almanac and Way to Wealth (Wright, Benjamin Franklin, 2). Preface signed in print, "J.R." (i.e. Sir John Rhodes): with last line of text in preface beginning "the." Four leaves of publisher's advertisements at rear. ESTC T141545. Sabin 59698. Bronner & Fraser 134A. Lowndes, 1822. Occasional faint early marginalia.
Interior generally fresh with title page mounted to repair long closed tear, minimally affecting text.