THE "FIRST GREAT AMERICAN": FIRST IRISH EDITION OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN'S WORKS, 1793, THIS COPY WITH DISTINGUISHED PROVENANCE

FRANKLIN, Benjamin. Works of the late Doctor Benjamin Franklin: Consisting of His Life, Written By Himself, Together with Essays, Humorous, Moral & Literary, Chiefly in the Manner of the Spectator. Dublin: Printed for P. Wogan, P. Byrne, J. Moore, and W. Jones, 1793. Octavo, contemporary mottled calf, rebacked with original spine label laid down. $4200.

First Irish edition, printed in the same year as the first English, of this leading popular collection of Franklin's Works, including Franklin's autobiography, major essays such as his thoughts "On the Slave Trade" and his powerful speech at the close of the 1787 Constitutional Convention—"the most eloquent words Franklin ever wrote," with an unusual frontispiece portrait of Franklin not seen in other editions.

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, in both his life and writings, "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). This first Irish edition of Franklin's Works, published only three years after his death, offers rich evidence of the pragmatic brilliance in the words of this Founding Father, who was described as "a great genius" even by his adversary John Adams. Featured is Franklin's famed autobiography, "the most widely read of all American autobiographies… it holds the essence of the American way of life" (Grolier American 100:21). Also included are numerous essays, such as his "Advice to a Young Tradesman," "On the Criminal Laws, and the Practice of Privateering," "On the Slave Trade," "Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America" and Franklin's powerful speech given the final day of the 1787 Constitutional Convention, proclaiming "for the ages the enlightened creed that became central to America's freedom. They were the most eloquent words Franklin ever wrote" (Isaacson, 457). Edited and with a preface by Franklin's friend Richard Price, this Irish edition of the Works is "a collection of the 'popular' pieces of Franklin, together with a re-translation of the autobiography" from the 1791 French first edition of the autobiography, which appeared in English later the same year in a "wretched re-translation from the Paris edition" (Ford 437, 386). The engraved frontispiece here, a younger portrait of Franklin than commonly seen, was used for this Irish edition only. The first London edition was printed in the same year as this first Irish, with the first American edition following in the next year. Of the three essays that were added to the second English edition, only one is present here: "Sketch of an English School." Ford 439. Sabin 25600. ESTC T62996. Title page with inked inscriptions of James Kent, dated 1794, and Samuel J. Elder, dated 1905. Kent (1763-1847), a legal scholar known as "the American Blackstone," was the author of Commentaries on American Law, Chief Justice of New York from 1804 to 1814 and Chancellor of New York from 1814 to 1823. Elder (1850-1918), another distinguished legal scholar, was described by the New York Times as "one of the leading lawyers of the country for many years and prominent in some of its most important litigations." Front free endpaper and flyleaf with early inked notes on the life of David Rittenhouse and with affixed newspaper clipping about erecting a monument to Franklin's parents.

Contents with minor spotting, generally clean; light expert restoration to contemporary calf boards. A pleasing copy with notable provenance.