Benjamin Franklin | One of Franklin's very earliest surviving letters

Benjamin Franklin

Autograph letter signed (“B Franklin”) to John Ladd (“Sir”), half page (312 x 192 mm) on a leaf of laid paper (watermarked heraldic shield), [Philadelphia,] 12 June 1738, regarding Ladd’s purchase of books from Franklin’s shop, verso with autograph address panel and reception docket; browned, worn at folds with some neat repair. Half green morocco folding-case gilt, chemise.

Benjamin Franklin as bookseller. In the 25 May 1738 issue of the Pennsylvania Gazette, and subsequently, Franklin advertised a list of books “Just Imported,” which included The Ladies’ Library, 3 volumes duodecimo, and Alexander Pope’s translation of Homer, 11 volumes duodecimo. He here writes to John Ladd, surveyor from Gloucester County, New Jersey, confirming his purchase of The Ladies Library and the balance of a set of Cervantes, probably John Ozell’s revision of Peter Motteux’s English translation: 

“I send you the Ladies Library & the other two Vols. of Don Quixote.

“The Homers I have are done by Pope. The Iliads are in 6 vols. 12mo price 45/. The Odysseys 5 vols. 12mo price 37/6. They are beautifully printed and neatly bound. I will not part with them until I hear from you. I am Sir Your most hum[bl]e Serv[an]t.”

Ladd’s purchase of The Ladies’ Library and Don Quixote is recorded in Franklin’s Shop Book, June 9, 1738, where is also noted, July 19, his acquisition of the 11-volume set of Pope’s Homer for £4 2s. 6d. Sales of other books to Ladd are entered in Franklin’s Ledger D. John Ladd (d. 1770) went on serve as a justice of the peace; he was elected to the New Jersey Assembly in 1754 and appointed to the Governor’s Council in 1763.

This is one of the very earliest of Franklin’s letters to survive. The Papers of Benjamin Franklin record nine letters of earlier date, but of these, five are known only by earlier publications or transcriptions, the originals having been lost, and two others survive only as drafts (one incomplete).

REFERENCES

The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, ed. Labaree, 2:206–207 (not locating the original, text taken from a transcript in the Historical Society of Haddonfield, New Jersey, with significant variation from the autograph letter)

PROVENANCE

“A Philadelphia Gentleman” (Christie’s New York, 20 May 1994, lot 31)