Benjamin Franklin — David Hall | A nearly complete 1757 run of "The Pennsylvania Gazette," Franklin and Hall's Philadelphia newspaper

(Benjamin Franklin — David Hall)

The Pennsylvania Gazette. Containing the Freshest Advices, Foreign and Domestick. Philadelphia: Printed by B. Franklin, Post-Master, and D. Hall, 6 January 1757–1 December, 1757

46 weekly issues, numbers 1463–1510, without numbers 1488 and 1489, folio (381 x 248 mm). Each issue a bifolium of 4 pages, printed in three columns, with a woodcut armorial at the head of the first page, and occasional small woodcut illustrations in the text, number 1492 with an early ownership signature; Light toning, a few spots, generally quite minor excepting number 1497, some chipping and wear to corners and edges, trimmed close at the top edge, occasionally shaving a letter or a headline, infrequent tears and one loss at a corner, two holes near the gutter from a previous binding throughout, issue number 1510, the last in the series, with chipping and tears along edges, with losses to the printing on the second leaf at the lower corner and the top edge, and with a paper repair along the fold. Disbound; with remnants of a previous binding at spine, and much of the sewing intact. Half red morocco slipcase, chemise.

A rare and extensive run of 46 weekly issues of Benjamin Franklin's newspaper, The Pennsylvania Gazette, covering nearly all of 1757 and encapsulating a year's worth of vital news for North America and especially Philadelphia.

These newspapers are also an important source for information on The French and Indian War, which raged across North America from 1755 to 1763.

In October 1729, Benjamin Franklin, already established as both printer and journalist, assumed control of an existing paper and shortened its name to The Pennsylvania Gazette. Franklin then changed both the paper's design and its content, and under his direction the Gazette became arguably the finest newspaper in the colonies, with the largest circulation, the most pages, the highest advertising revenue, and the liveliest editorial columns. Walter Isaacson, in his popular biography, characterizes Franklin the newspaper editor and journalist as one who was "charmed and amused by the world and delight[ed] in charming and amusing others... skeptical of both orthodoxies and heresies... earnest in [his] desire to seek truth and promote public betterment." As such, "Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette was filled not only with short news items and reports on public events, but also with amusing essays and letters from readers. What made his paper a delight was its wealth of this type of correspondence, much of it written under pseudonyms by Franklin himself" (Isaacson, p. 65).

In 1748, Franklin took on David Hall as partner and stepped away from active printing. By 1757, the period covered in the present run, Franklin would not have been involved in the daily activities of the paper — he was engaged as Pennsylvania's Colonial Agent that year, and departed for England on 20 June. That said, Franklin continued to publish and occasionally write for the paper until 1765, when he sold his share of the printing business to Hall, a deal that was finalized on 1 February 1766. The Gazette itself continued to be published until 1815.

These 1757 issues of The Pennsylvania Gazette are an especially important record for the French and Indian War, providing, for example, accounts of the French defeat of General Braddock in western Pennsylvania in July 1755, and the English rout of the French at Lake George later that September. There is also information about a variety of world events, including the concurrent Seven Years' War in Europe, and various proclamations and acts from King George and the English Parliament. The Gazette includes a variety of news from various colonial centers, including New York, Boston, Kingston, and Williamsburg. There is also information about colonists' interactions with Native Americans, including accounts of whites taken into captivity, and the texts of agreements between Pennsylvania and the Six Nations. The newspaper is also filled with information on Philadelphia, giving accounts of the votes and proceedings of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and serving as a veritable "who's who" for the city.

Additionally, the advertising matter in the Gazette offers a fascinating record of colonial life in the city of Philadelphia, reporting on escaped enslaved persons and runaway servants, ship embarkations and arrivals, auctions, lottery schemes, real estate sales, legal notices, new publications by booksellers, and scores of artisans and professionals offering their services, including cabinet makers, silversmiths, grocers, textile merchants, and more. Some other notable inclusions in the advertisements are Lewis Evans's death and the auction of his maps, Franklin's selling of his own "Very Good Lampblack" at his printing office, information on Franklin's fire insurance company The Philadelphia Contributionship, and notices for books printed on Franklin's own press, such as The Trial of the late Admiral Byng.

This run of 46 issues is among the three largest groups of Franklin imprint Pennsylvania Gazettes to have appeared at auction in the last century, per RareBookHub.

REFERENCES

Miller 662; Walter Isaacson, Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, New York: Simon and Schuster, 2003