PRINTED IN 1754 BY BENJAMIN FRANKLIN AND DAVID HALL, WITH PENNSYLVANIA PROVENANCE, BEAUTIFULLY BOUND

(FRANKLIN PRINTING) (PENNSYLVANIA). Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives of the Province of Pennsylvania… Volume the Third. Philadelphia: Printed and Sold by B. Franklin, and D. Hall, 1754. Folio (measures 9-1/2 by 14-1/2 inches), period-style full speckled calf gilt, red morocco spine label, raised bands. $4500.

First edition of the separately issued third volume of Franklin and Hall's folio reprinting of the Provincial Votes of Pennsylvania, 1682-1744; this volume covers the votes from October 14, 1726 through 1744. The copy of Pennsylvania politician James Ross, with his signature on the title page. Beautifully bound.

By the mid 1750s, Benjamin Franklin was member of the Pennsylvania Assembly, marking the beginning his career in revolutionary politics and further solidifying the preeminence of his printing partnership with David Hall. "With this volume Franklin and Hall completed their stint of reprinting the Provincial Votes, 1682-1744; the fourth volume printed by Henry Miller appeared in 1764. The number of Franklin and Hall sets in [Samuel] Taylor bindings… suggests that the remainder, stored in sheets, was considerable. On June 2, 1763, Hall advertised the three volumes at £6 in the Pennsylvania Gazette; in 1766 Franklin, living in London and writing to James Parker his comments on the financial statement of the recently dissolved Franklin and Hall partnership, queried particularly the printing of 'the Old Body of Votes' and asked: 'Are there not a great number unsold?'" (Miller). Miller 596. Evans 7286. Hildeburn 1387. Early owner ink signature to title page of Pennsylvania politician James Ross (1762-1847) who represented Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate from 1794-1803.

Some offsetting, creasing, and short closed tears to title page margins; light scattered foxing to text. A handsome folio Franklin printing, with a nice early Pennsylvania provenance and a beautiful period-style binding..