"THE EPITOME OF FRANKLIN’S SPIRIT" AND "THE MOST WIDELY READ OF ALL AMERICAN AUTOBIOGRAPHIES": 1793 FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH OF FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY

FRANKLIN, Benjamin. The Private Life of the Late Benjamin Franklin, LL.D. Late Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States of America to France… Originally written by Himself, and Now Translated from the French. London: Printed for J. Parsons, 1793. Octavo, contemporary full calf rebacked in period style. $12,000.

First edition in English (expanded from the French) of Franklin’s renowned autobiography, "the most widely read of all American autobiographies."

"The most widely read of all American autobiographies… [The Private Life of the Late Benjamin Franklin] holds the essence of the American way of life" (Grolier 21). "This account is the epitome of Franklin's spirit. In it one sees him as a typical though great example of 18th-century enlightenment, a Yankee Puritan who could agree with Rousseau and Voltaire, and use the language of Defoe and Addison with a genial homely twang" (Hart, 142). "A year after Benjamin Franklin's death his autobiography was published in Paris in March of 1791… Known today as The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, this classic piece of Americana was originally written for Franklin's son William, then the governor of New Jersey. The work portrays a fascinating picture of life in Philadelphia, as well as shrewd observations on the literature, philosophy and religion of the time. Franklin wrote the first five chapters of his autobiography in England in 1771, resumed again 13 years later (1784-85) in Paris and later in 1788 when he returned to the United States. Franklin ends the account of his life in 1757 when he was 51 years old. Considered to be the greatest autobiography produced in colonial America" (Archiving Early America). The ultimate treatise on man's ability to better himself, the Autobiography is especially notable for its wonderful and humorous pragmatism. Bound without half title; with Fauchet's Eulogium half title. Occasional mispagination without loss of text. Howes F323. Sabin 25573. Ford 386. Title page and dedication with early ink owner names; one early ink annotation .

Scattered light foxing. An excellent copy of this American classic, in contemporary boards.