"THE FIRST GREAT AMERICAN": MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 1818-19, WITH ONE OF THE FIRST PRINTINGS OF A MAJOR PART OF THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY ALONG WITH HIS CORRESPONDENCE AND POSTHUMOUS WRITINGS, RARE COMPLETE IN SIX VOLUMES, HANDSOMELY BOUND IN GILT-STAMPED CONTEMPORARY CALF BY WHITE OF LONDON
FRANKLIN, Benjamin. Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin… Written by Himself to a Late Period, And Continued to the Time of His Death by His Grandson, William Temple Franklin… Published from the Original MSS. London: Henry Colburn, 1818-19. Six volumes. Octavo, contemporary full diced brown calf, elaborately gilt-decorated spines, raised bands, red morocco spine labels, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt.
Third English octavo edition, preceded by the same year's first quarto and first octavo editions, featuring the first three parts of Franklin's Autobiography as originally written by him, along with one of the first printings in any form of the third part (1731-57) and his grandson's continuation to 1790, also containing Franklin's extensive correspondence and posthumous writings. With engraved frontispiece plates (I, II), folding facsimile of Franklin's handwriting (III), and seven engraved plates (five folding) including folding map of the Gulf Stream (VI). A splendid set, rarely found complete, bound in contemporary calf gilt by White of London.
Hailed as the "first great American" by historian Frederick Jackson Turner, America's "first philosopher" by David Hume and "one of the most sensible men that ever lived" by Emerson, Benjamin Franklin "held true to a fundamental ideal with unwavering and at times heroic fortitude: a faith in the wisdom of the common citizen" (Isaacson, 478-93). Franklin's autobiographical writings cover the years from his birth in 1706 through 1759 only, and were written by him at four different periods between 1771 and 1789. Curiously, the first two of the four parts originally appeared in French (1791, 1798) and, before 1818, all English versions were re-translations from those French editions. Volumes I-IV of this six-volume edition, containing the autobiographical writings, were issued the same year as the three-volume quarto edition that first set them from an original English manuscript and contained the first appearance of Franklin's third part, covering the years 1731 to 1757 (I:143-258). A brief fourth part of the manuscript, in which Franklin explains briefly the events of a London visit and the important happenings of 1757, was inadvertently omitted. At one time William Temple Franklin, Franklin's grandson and heir who prepared this work, had possessed the four-part manuscript, entirely in Franklin's hand, but unwittingly traded it for a copy lacking that part, hence the publication here of only the three parts. It wasn't until 1868 that editor John Bigelow discovered and published the very short fourth part. Throughout the second half of Volume I and all of Volume II, Temple Franklin continues his grandfather's life through the year of his death in 1790, and supplies a supplement, appendix and index.
Temple Franklin's continuation of Franklin's autobiography is "of great value… Franklin by his will, left the bulk of his books and manuscripts to his grandson… who at once (1790) came to London and began the preparations for, and announced an edition of his grandfather's writings. The times were so unpropitious for an elaborate work, however, that a publisher could not be found… and so the enterprise dragged along till 1818 when both quarto and octavo editions were printed" (Ford 561). Notably included are Franklin's letters, memoirs, pamphlets and writings on the American Revolution, freedom of the press and his groundbreaking experiments in electricity, as well as secret diplomatic and political correspondence. Often found incomplete as the first two volumes only, this six-volume edition of the Memoirs contains the two volumes of Franklin's "Life" (1818), the two volumes of "Correspondence" (1818), and the two volumes of "Posthumous and other Writings" (1819). As issued with general title pages (I-II), general and separate title pages (III-VI). Containing engraved frontispiece portrait (I), frontispiece plate (II), folding facsimile (III), seven engraved plates (five folding), including folding map of the "Gulph Stream" (VI). Ford 564; see 569, 571. Sabin 25545. See Howes F323. Armorial owner bookplates.
Interior generally very fresh, only lightest rubbing to boards. A striking about-fine set, rarely complete, handsomely bound in brilliant gilt-stamped contemporary calf.