A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/collectibles/vintage-poster/film" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">movie poster</a> for the <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/james-bond" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">James Bond</a> film Thunderball.<ul><li>Robert E. McGinnis (American, 1926-2025).</li><li>Frank McCarthy (American, 1924-2002).</li><li>United Artists.</li><li>Heavy cardstock poster.</li><li>This work is presented unframed.</li></ul> The US Window Card film poster for the James Bond classic&nbsp;Thunderball. Featuring the 'Look Up! Look Down! Look Out!' Robert McGinnis &amp; Frank McCarthy artwork. Thunderball, the much-loved fourth film in the James Bond series, and often referred to as "The underwater one" sees Sean Connery, as 007 heading to the Bahamas to recover two nuclear warheads stolen by S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Agent Emilio Largo in an international extortion scheme.

James Bond Thunderball Window Card Movie Poster

A French <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/collectibles/vintage-poster/film" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">movie poster</a> for the <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/james-bond" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">James Bond</a> film <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/collectibles/vintage-poster/film?query=James%2520Bond" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Thunderball</a>.<ul><li>Frank McCarthy (American 1924-2002).</li><li>Robert E. McGinnis (American 1926-2025).</li><li>United Artists.</li><li>Linen backed.</li><li>This work is presented unframed.</li></ul>

French James Bond Thunderball Movie Poster

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/collectibles/vintage-poster/film" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">movie poster</a> for the <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/james-bond" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">James Bond</a> film On Her Majesty's Secret Service.<ul><li>Robert E. McGinnis (American, b.1926).</li><li>Frank McCarthy (American, 1924-2002).</li><li>United Artists.</li><li>Linen backed.</li><li>This work is presented framed.</li></ul>

James Bond On Her Majesty's Secret Service Movie Poster

The country-of-origin Advance UK Quad <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/collectibles/vintage-poster/film" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">movie poster</a> for the fourth <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/james-bond" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">James Bond</a> film Thunderball.<ul><li>Frank McCarthy (American).</li><li>Robert McGinnis (American).</li><li>Linen backed.</li><li>This work is presented unframed.</li></ul> Fantastic artwork of Sean Connery by Robert McGinnis &amp; Frank McCarthy.

British James Bond Thunderball Movie Poster

Movie poster for the release of <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/james-bond" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">James Bond</a> Thunderball, starring Sean Connery, 1965.<ul><li>Robert E. McGinnis (American, b. 1926).</li><li>Frank McCarthy (American, 1924–2002).</li><li>United Artists.</li><li>Linen backed and unframed.</li></ul>

James Bond Thunderball Movie Poster

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a> of <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Robert%20Frank&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Robert Frank</a>'s <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book?Book%20Type=Art%2520and%2520Design" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">photobook</a> The Americans.<ul><li>Robert Frank (American).</li><li>New York: Grove Press, Inc., 1959.</li><li>170 pages.</li><li>First American edition.</li><li>83 black and white photographs printed in gravure.</li><li>Plain endpapers, black cloth-covered boards, titles to spine in gold, white photo-illustrated dust-jacket printed in black, black and red collage by Alfred Leslie on the lower panel.</li></ul> The first American edition of Frank's masterpiece, after Robert Delpire's Les Américains, was published in France the previous year. The Americans follows a careful and complex sequence, with four chapters, each introduced by a photograph of the American flag. In his successful application for the Guggenheim grant that allowed him to make this work Frank wrote: 'The project I have in mind is one that will shape itself as it proceeds... The material is there; the practice will be in the photographer's hand, the vision in his mind!' Between April 1955 and June 1956 he set out on a series of trips across America. His aim was to complete a body of work that would be 'a broad, voluminous picture record of things American, past and present... A visual study of a civilisation.' For this, the defining edition, Frank stripped the texts which appeared opposite the photographs in Delpire's edition and added an introduction by Jack Kerouac, who writes, 'What a poem this is, what poems can be written about this book of pictures some day by young new writers.... Whether 'tis the milk of humankind-ness, or human-kindness, Shakespeare meant, makes no difference when you look at these pictures. Better than a show... Robert Frank, Swiss, unobtrusive, nice, with that little camera that he raises and snaps with one hand he sucked a sad poem right out of America onto film, taking rank among the tragic poets of the world!' Like Vladimir Nabakov, Frank saw 1950s America as no American could have seen it, 'the loneliness, alienation, rootlessness, and sadness of automobile-happy mid-century America.' David Levi Strauss referred to the French edition as sociology, whereas the American edition is poetry. And as Kerouac writes 'Anybody doesn't like these pitchers don't like potry, see?' With this book, Frank galvaniZed photography for his generation and has influenced, in some way, every other generation since.

The Americans | First American Edition

This first edition copy of Flower Is contains three bodies of work: photographs taken in Paris of flowers, flower sellers and chance encounters on the street, the River Rouge car factory in Detroit, and Polaroids made in Mabou Mines, Nova Scotia.&nbsp;<ul><li>Robert Frank (Swiss-American).</li><li>Design by Sugiura Kohei and Sato Atsushi.</li><li>Tokyo: Yugensha / Kazuhiko Motomura, 1987.</li><li>112 pages.</li><li>Folio.</li><li>Includes black-and-white photographs printed in offset.</li><li>Bound in grey silk-covered boards, titles stamped in dark grey on spine and upper side, publisher's grey paper-covered board slipcase with titles stamped in dark grey on spine.</li><li>Accompanied by original shipping carton.</li></ul> Flower Is is the second of three books Frank made with Motomura Kazuhiko, a collector of photographs and photography books and occasional publisher, each designed by Sugiura Kohei. "By 1949 I had lived in New York City for two years. When I returned to Paris, I was 26. The beauty of that city touched me... Returning to America I began to look at Americans... and began to photograph the city and factory which produced the American car. The summer of 1955 was hot and after two days at the River Rouge Plant in Detroit I was told to leave the factory. I travelled south and was astonished to see black people treated as inferiors. I experienced the suspicion against anything not 'American'. I was learning about American determination to win... Flowers of Paris is memory... After the publication of The Americans in 1959, a slow fade begins. Filmmaking replaces the single frame photograph!"

Flower Is

A British <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/collectibles/vintage-poster/film" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">movie poster</a> for the <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/james-bond" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">James Bond</a> film On Her Majesty's Secret Service.<ul><li>Robert E. McGinnis (American, 1926-2025).</li><li>Frank McCarthy (American, 1924-2002).</li><li>United Artists.</li><li>Linen backed.</li><li>Conservation framed with UV plexiglass.</li></ul> Please note: This item is excluded from complimentary shipping. Shipping quote will be calculated at time of purchase.

British James Bond On Her Majesty's Secret Service Movie Poster

Movie poster for the 1967 release of <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/james-bond" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">James Bond</a>'s You Only Live Twice, starring Sean Connery.<ul><li>Frank McCarthy (American, 1924–2002).</li><li>Robert E. McGinnis (American, b. 1926).</li><li>United Artists.</li><li>Style C poster used for drive-ins and special displays, printed on heavier paper stock.</li><li>Linen backed and unframed.</li></ul>

James Bond You Only Live Twice Movie Poster

The Jay T. Snider Collection of Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin Letterpress broadside document signed (“BFranklin, Presdt.”) as President of the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention, printed on a half-sheet of laid paper (203 x 325 mm; watermarked wreaths within circle), [Philadelphia,] 7 September 1776, accomplished in a clerical hand, with metalcut seal of the Pennsylvania Council of Safety (a bundle of lictor’s rods set diagonally and surmounted by the word “Seal,” encircled by the motto “Liberty Safety & Peace”); fold separations and chips, some repaired, costing bits of a few letters. "[F]or the Defence and establishing of American Liberty." Headed “In Convention for the state of Pennsylvania,” the present document reads, “To James Young Gentleman, We reposing especial Trust and Confidence in your Patriotism, Valour, Conduct and Fidelity, Do, by these Presents, constitute and appoint you to be first Lieutenant of a company of Foot from Cumberland County in the Flying Camp for the Middle States of America, for the Protection of the said States against all hostile Enterprizes, and for the Defence and establishing of American Liberty. You are therefore carefully and diligently to discharge the Duty of first Lieutenant as aforesaid by doing and performing all Manner of Things thereunto belonging. And we do strictly charge and require all Officers and Soldiers under your Command, to be obedient to your Orders as first Lieutenant. And you are to observe and follow such Orders and Directions, as you shall receive from the Convention during their Sessions, from the Government now establishing, or from the Council of Safety for this State, or any other your superior Officers, according to the Rules and Discipline of War, in Pursuance of the Trust reposed in you. This Commission to continue in Force until revoked by the Government now establishing for this State, the Council of Safety, or by this or any succeeding Convention. By order of the convention.” Even for Benjamin Franklin, the eighteen months from May 1775 (when he returned to Philadelphia after a decade in London as colonial agent for Pennsylvania, Georgia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts) and October 1776 (when he departed for Paris as an American commissioner seeking support from, and alliance with, France) were exceptionally busy. In addition to serving as President of the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety, a delegate to the Continental Congress, and the nation’s first Postmaster General, Franklin was also elected President of the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention. The Convention met from 15 July through 28 September 1776, and while the delegates—including, in addition to Franklin, Robert Whitehill, Timothy Matlack, Dr. Thomas Young, George Bryan, and James Cannon—were drafting the first independent state constitution issued after the Declaration of Independence, the Convention itself assumed responsibility for the day-to-day governance of the commonwealth through the Council of Safety. The Council succeeded the Committee of Safety, expanding its charge to exercise full executive power after the fall of the Penns’ proprietary government. The Council shortly ceded that power to the government established by the new state constitution: a unicameral legislature, with members elected to one-year terms; a thirteen-member Supreme Executive Council to administer the government; and a judiciary appointed by the legislature for seven-year terms, and removable at any time. (Like the Declaration, the Pennsylvania constitution began with a preamble that inveighed against George III and his unlawful war against the Colonies.) So, the Convention and Council of Safety had a period of just over eight weeks when military commissions could be issued by their authority, which accounts for their great rarity. Rare Book Hub records only one other such appointment in addition to the present, Gabriel Blakeney’s appointment as a Second Lieutenant in a battalion of Cumberland County in the Flying Camp, 11 September 1776, part of the celebrated James S. Copley Library, sold in our rooms, 14 April 2010, lot 54. The “Flying Camp” was a mobile reserve militia corps authorized by Congress after the British evacuated Boston. Active from July through November 1776 and drawn largely from Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland, units of the Flying Camp served principally in New York and New Jersey. The James Young who received this appointment is presumably the same James Young who was commissioned a first lieutenant in the 7th Pennsylvania Regiment of the Continental Army in March 1777. The 7th Pennsylvania was largely recruited from Cumberland and York counties. PROVENANCE Christie’s New York, 27 January 2023, lot 148 (undesignated consignor)

View 1 of Lot 112: Benjamin Franklin | The rarest form of American Revolutionary military commission

benjamin franklin | the rarest form of american revolutionary military commission

(Benjamin Franklin) Moral Pictures, or Poor Richard Illustrated. Being Lessons for the Young and the Old, on Industry, Temperance, Frugality, &c By the late Dr. Benj. Franklin. [No place or printer, ca. 1810] Broadside printed in sanguine on linen (450 x 615 mm). 25 oval vignettes with aphoristic captions, including a portrait of Franklin, each after Robert Dighton; foxed, top right corner fraying slightly, top and bottom margin trimmed close. Glazed and framed, stitched onto a cloth mat (560 x 720 mm). Rare sanguine printing of this illustrated broadside on linen featuring Franklin's clever maxims on industry. Across its 25 vignettes, the broadside visually depicts several of Franklin's aphorisms from The Way to Wealth, including "Early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise" and "When the well is dry, they know the worth of water." This issue of Moral Pictures is evidently unrecorded. Most eighteenth-century editions, including a version in the form of a jigsaw puzzle, have either the London imprint of Bowles and Carver or the Manchester imprint of Bancks & Co., though versions of this instructive pictorial continued to be published until the mid-nineteenth century. REFERENCES Cf. Ford 137*; American Philosophical Society Mss.973.C683

View 1 of Lot 153: (Benjamin Franklin) | "Early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise"

(benjamin franklin) | "early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise"

(Benjamin Franklin) Manuscript list of "Grand Jury City Sessions," [Philadelphia,] April 1741, on a slip of laid paper (317 x 102 mm) cut from a larger sheet (watermarked Pro Patria with Maid of Dort), being a list of 24 jurors and alternates, including Benjamin Franklin, George Mifflin, William Callender, Joseph Sims, and other Philadelphians, both celebrated and obscure, signed by, and evidently in the hand of Septimus Robinson, Sheriff of the City and County of Philadelphia (“Sept. Robinson Sher.”); lightly browned, some minor repairs on verso. An intriguing piece of manuscript ephemera testifying to Franklin's early civic engagement, of which Jay Snider writes: “I love this bit of ephemera, plainly listing Benjamin Franklin as a juror, in the days when he was becoming quite a force in Philadelphia society but before he had achieved great fame. Here he is, fulfilling his duty as a citizen, just like everyone else. “I have tried, in this collection, to assemble a diverse array of things that represent the man in all his facets: printer; entrepreneur; civic institution builder; politician; family patriarch; inventor; philosopher (in the 18thc sense); and everyday guy. This item fits in the last category. “But it turns out there is more than meets the eye here if one is only searching for Ben. There are some others, among the 24 jurors chosen that year, that played a role in Ben’s life: for example, William Coleman and Hugh Roberts, two of Franklin’s very best friends. Both were members of the Junto—Coleman an original member. Coleman was also the treasurer of the Library Company; the treasurer of the first, failed, American Philosophical Society; a director of the Philadelphia Contributionship; and he was also named by Franklin as an advisor on his 1750 and1757 wills. Roberts, in addition to being a Junto member, was an original director of the Library Company; a founding member of the Union Fire Company; one of the original managers of the Pennsylvania Hospital; and a director of the Philadelphia Contributionship. “And there are more from Ben’s circle: Richard Sewell, a member of the Union Fire Company; Samuel Coates, a Library Company and Union Fire Company member; and Joseph Stretch, who held subscription #8 to the Library Company. He was elected a director in 1740 and served for many years. Franklin was either a founder or co-founder of every one of these institutions. One wonders if he organized his own posse to sit in the jury pool, if for no other reason than to keep him amused. “Lastly, I must also mention that Simon Edgill was on that list. Franklin and Meredith rented his house to set up their printing business in 1728. Looking beyond Franklin to Philadelphia colonial history, this is quite an interesting little document.” PROVENANCE Caren Archive (Bonhams, 7 April 2014, lot 38)

View 1 of Lot 27: (Benjamin Franklin) | Fulfilling a civic responsibility

(benjamin franklin) | fulfilling a civic responsibility

Montgomery & Winters A South-East Prospect of the Pennsylvania Hospital, with the Elevation of the Intended Plan. Philadelphia: Printed and Sold by Robert Kennedy, 1761 Hand-colored engraving (274 x 367 mm). First state, before the addition of the numbers, signed in the plate "Montgomery & Winters Del." and "J Steeper & H Dawkins sculp.t"; lightly toned, marginal repairs, with one closed crack barely passing the neatline at the left, and one touching the engraved text at lower right corner, expertly rebacked. Framed. The first state of this early view of Pennsylvania Hospital, apparently a unique impression. "This Building by the Bounty of the Government, And of many private Persons, Was Piously founded, for the Relief of the Sick and Miserable." This engraved view shows Pennsylvania Hospital, located at 8th and Pine Streets in Philadelphia, as seen from the southeast. It treated men and woman for both physical and mental illnesses. Of particular note is the garden in the foreground, where invalids are seen taking air and exercise, assisted by groups of well-heeled and charitable Philadelphians. The view was made to stimulate public interest in the Pennsylvania Hospital, and it was sold to raise funds for the institution's continued growth. Co-founded by Dr. Thomas Bond, a Philadelphia physician who first conceived of the institution, and Benjamin Franklin, who helped secure the necessary funding, it was the nation's first chartered hospital. The Pennsylvania Assembly pledged £2,000 for the institution but required that the founders raise a matching amount from private individuals (see lot 60 for a collection of Pennsylvania Hospital Promissory Notes, printed by Franklin). The goal was easily met, and the hospital was chartered in 1751. After a short period in a temporary building, the east wing opened its doors in 1756. Although the full building, as designed by Samuel Rhoads, is depicted here, the central and western wings were not completed until after the Revolution (west wing, 1795-96; central pavilion, 1796-99). As such, the hospital required additional funding to complete the building, which is what this engraving would likely have funded. The charitable nature of the print is made doubly clear by the roundel at the bottom of the image. It includes an illustration of, and a bible passage from, the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:35) — "take care of him & I will repay thee." Pennsylvania Hospital's Pine Building still stands today. It recently opened as a museum in May 2026, the year the hospital celebrated its 275th anniversary. This print was last sold in 1973 at Sotheby's, and evidently no copy of any state of the print has appeared at auction since then, per Rare Book Hub. We are only able to locate a single institutional example, held at the Library Company of Philadelphia. REFERENCES Snyder, City of Philadelphia, 24 (this copy); Roger W. Moss, "Rhoads, Samuel," from Philadelphia Architects and Buildings, a project of the Athenaeum of Philadelphia (https://archive.carpentershall.org/items/show/25803); Julie Wood, "The History of Pennsylvania Hospital's Pine Building," Penn Medicine, May 7, 2026 (https://www.pennmedicine.org/news/the-history-of-pennsylvania-hospital-pine-building?path=News&path=the-history-of-pennsylvania-hospital-pine-building) PROVENANCE Martin Snyder

View 1 of Lot 62: [Pennsylvania Hospital] — Montgomery & Winters | The first state of this early view of the nation's first chartered hospital, likely a unique impression

[pennsylvania hospital] — montgomery & winters | the first state of this early view of the nation's first chartered hospital, likely a unique impression

Benjamin Franklin INTRODUCTION TO LOTS 82–87 The Snider Collection is especially rich in materials illuminating the long friendship between Benjamin Franklin and Mary (Polly) Stevenson Hewson (1739–1795), daughter of his London landlady, Mrs. Margaret Stevenson, as the following six lots demonstrate. The editors of The Papers of Benjamin Franklin describe Stevenson (later Mrs. Hewson) as “one of the charming, intelligent girls to whom [Franklin] gave the long and affectionate friendship for which he had such a talent. … Polly’s almost filial devotion to him was a major influence in her life. She had acquired an unusually good education and by the time [Franklin] arrived at Craven Street in 1757, she was spending most of her time as companion to an elderly aunt, a Mrs. Tickell, in Wanstead, a village about ten miles from London, apparently with the understanding that the aunt would leave her a comfortable estate. Nothing came of [Franklin’s] hope of having her as a daughter-in-law; in 1770 she married William Hewson, a brilliant young physician and anatomist, who four years later died from an infection incurred while dissecting. Polly devoted the rest of her life to the care and education of her two sons and daughter” (Papers 8: 122–123). In 1784, Polly and her family visited Franklin in Passy, and in 1786, about a decade after Franklin had first suggested it, she and her children moved to Philadelphia; she was with Franklin at his death. Among their voluminous and eclectic correspondence, are eight letters by Franklin (including the present) that were published in later editions of his Experiments and Observations on Electricity. Franklin reflected on their friendship in a 27 January 1783 letter to Polly: “In looking forward,—Twenty-five Years seems a long Period; but in looking back, how short!— Could you imagine that ’tis now full a Quarter of a Century since we were first acquainted!— It was in 1757. During the greatest Part of the Time I lived in the same House with my dear deceased Friend your Mother; of course you and I saw and convers’d with each other much and often. It is to all our Honours, that in all that time we never had among us the smallest Misunderstanding. Our Friendship has been all clear Sunshine, without any the least Cloud in its Hemisphere. Let me conclude by saying to you what I have had too frequent Occasions to say to my other remaining old Friends, the fewer we become, the more let us love one another” (Papers 39:67–68). Autograph letter signed ("BFranklin") to Mary “Polly” Stevenson (“My Dear Friend”), 2 pages (318 x 201 mm) on a bifolium of laid paper (watermarked Pro Patria with Maid of Dort, countermarked crowned GR), London, 22 March 1762, regarding her study of electricity and other subjects, eight-line autograph postscript, integral leaf with autograph address panel (“To | Miss Stevenson | at Mrs. Tickell’s | Wanstead Essex”) on verso; some light staining at top of first page, long separations at head and foot of central vertical fold, a short marginal separation at horizontal fold, seal tear and repair, but red wax seal preserved largely intact. Half maroon morocco folding-case gilt, chemise. Franklin congratulates Stevenson on her reading his Experiments and Observations on Electricity in the French translation of Thomas-François Dalibard, and responds to a question she had posed in a letter to him, 10 March 1762, concerning Leyden jars: “I was about to ask a Question I find you cannot answer—How it happens that the Surface of the Bottle which contains less than it’s natural Quantity of Electric Fire does not immediately replenish itself from the Hand that holds it, unless the Fire which has a Communication with the other Surface is applied to something that will receive it’s superabundant Quantity” (Papers 10:65–66). He here replies, “I must retract the Charge of Idleness in your Studies, when I find you have gone thro’ the doubly difficult Task of reading so big a Book on an abstruse Subject and in a foreign Language. “The Question you were about to ask is a very sensible one.— The Hand that holds the Bottle receives & conducts away the electric Fluid that is driven out of the outside by the repulsive Power of that which is forc’d into the inside of the Bottle. As long as that Power remains in the same Situation, it must prevent the Return of what it had expell’d; tho’ the Hand would readily supply the Quantity if it could be receiv’d.—” These two opening paragraphs appear, virtually verbatim, as Letter LIII in the 1769 (pp. 460–61) and 1774 (pp. 470–71) editions of Experiments and Observations on Electricity, made at Philadelphia in America. The letter then turns to the topic of a new play that Stevenson was keen to see, a comedy in verse by William Whitehead that had premiered the previous month, and Franklin does not miss the opportunity to gently tease her about the title: “Your good Mama bids me tell you, that she has made Enquiry and finds that the School for Lovers will not be acted till the Benefits are over; but when she hears that it is to be acted she will send you timely Notice. I need not add, that your and your Friends Company at Dinner that Day will be a great Pleasure to us all. But methinks ’tis a Pity, that when you are so desirous of studying in that School, it should not be open, and must we be depriv’d of the Happiness of seeing you till it is? Rather than that should be, I would almost venture to undertake reading you a few Lectures on the Subject myself.” Franklin requests that she send Dalibard’s translation of his work (which he terms “the French Letters, on Electricity”) to him “as a Friend is desirous of perusing them.” He closes by sending his “sincere Respects to Mrs. Tickell, Mrs. Rooke, Miss Pitt, etc.,” but adds a postscript that has evidently not previously appeared in print: “P. S. We were greatly alarm’d in the Night between Friday & Saturday by a Fire at the Bottom of the Street that has almost destroy’d two Houses. Our House & Yard were cover’d with falling Coals of Fire but as it rain’d hard nothing catch’d. We mov’d a few of the most valuable Things; but suffer’d no Damage, tho’ we lost——some Rest.” This bit of news, since it concerned her mother’s house, might well have been quite distressing to Stevenson, which is undoubtedly why Franklin added a joke to the conclusion. REFERENCES Papers of Benjamin Franklin, ed. Cohn, 37:144–145 (not locating the original, text [surprisingly accurate, but lacking the postscript entirely] taken from Stan V. Henkels, Catalogue No. 1262) PROVENANCE Stan V. Henkels, Catalogue No. 1262, The Great Autograph Sale, 1 July 1920, lot 31 (undesignated consignor) — Robert L. McNeil Jr., of Philadelphia (acquired by Snider from the McNeil estate through the offices of Joe Rubinfine American Historical Autographs)

View 1 of Lot 82: Benjamin Franklin | A lesson in electricity, later printed in Experiments and Observations

benjamin franklin | a lesson in electricity, later printed in experiments and observations

Benjamin Franklin Experiments and Observations on Electricity, made at Philadelphia in America, … and Commuinicated in several Letters to Mr. P. Collinson, of London, F.R.S. London: Printed and sold by E. Cave, at St. John’s Gate, 1751 [bound with:] Supplemental Experiments and Observations on Electricity, made at Philadelphia in America, Part II. London: Printed and sold by E. Cave, at St. John’s Gate, 1753 [and with:] New Experiments and Observations on Electricity. Made at Philadelphia in America. … To which are added A Paper on the same Subject by J. Canton … and another in defence of Mr. Franklin against the Abbe Nollet, by Mr. D. Colden, of New York. Part III. London: Printed and sold by D. Henry, and R. Cave, at St. John’s-Gate, 1754 3 parts in one volume, 4to (228 x 170 mm). First work with folding engraved plate by T. Jefferys and final leaf of advertisements for Cave’s publications, part II with errata to first part on P4v, part III with woodcut text illustration; some scattered minor foxing and soiling, P4 with repaired tear at lower margin, part III evidently added to the first two parts at a somewhat later date and its final page quite soiled. Handsome retrospective calf-backed marbled boards using period materials, red edges to first two parts; rebacked. Half brown morocco folding-case gilt. First editions. “The most important scientific book of eighteenth-century America” (Printing and the Mind of Man). Franklin's published reports of his experiments in electricity, written as a series of letters addressed to Peter Collinson, made him the first American scientist to secure an international reputation and led to his election as the first colonial American member of the Royal Society. In addition to the famous kite and key experiment, Franklin's work with Leyden jars, lightning rods, and charged clouds is summarized. The three publications of Experiments and Observations were issued with continuous pagination and signatures despite their irregular publication. “The letters that Franklin had been sending to Collinson in London contained such novel and provocative experimental results and such a clear explanation of complex electrical phenomena, especially in using the recently discovered Leyden jar, that his letters were read at meetings of the Royal Society, and correspondence flourished with European savants engaged in electrical experimenting. Edward Cave, London publisher, perceived in Franklin's letters readership potential. With the sponsorship of Collinson, and Dr. John Fothergill as editor and writer of the unsigned preface, Franklin's Experiments and Observations on Electricity Made at Philadelphia, was published in London in 1751. The contents span a period reaching from a letter from Franklin to Collinson dated 28 July 1747; they discuss the properties of the Leyden jar and suggest eleven experiments in support of his conclusions. The book ends with ‘Opinions and Conjectures Concerning the Properties and Effects of the electrical Matter made in Philadelphia, 1749.’ In the 37 paragraphs of this lengthy letter Franklin emphasized the ‘operation of points’ in drawing off the electrical fire. He conjectured, ‘Now if the fire of electricity and that of lightning be the same, as I have endeavour'd to show at large in a former paper …’” (Dibner, 1976, pp. 13–14). Franklin’s experimental proof of his theory “that the Electrical Fire was not created by Friction, but collected, being an Element diffused among, and attracted by other Matter, particularly by Water and Metals,” was termed by Robert Andrews Millikan, the 1923 Nobel Prize winner in physics, “probably the most fundamental thing ever done in the field of electricity” (quoted in Lemay, Life 3:69). REFERENCES Dibner 57; Grolier/American 10; Grolier/Horblit 31a; Norman 830; Printing and the Mind of Man 199; Sabin 25505; Streeter sale 7:4151; cf. Dibner, Benjamin Franklin Electrician (1976) PROVENANCE Wakefield Mechanics Institute (ink stamp to title-page of Part III)

View 1 of Lot 59: Benjamin Franklin | “probably the most fundamental thing ever done in the field of electricity”

benjamin franklin | “probably the most fundamental thing ever done in the field of electricity”

New Jersey [New Jersey Session Laws] Anno Regni Georgii II. … At a General Assembly of the Colony of New-Jersey, continued by the Adjournments to the 17th Day of November, Anno Domini 1747, and then begun and holden at Burlington, being the fifth sitting of the second Session of this present Assembly. Philadelphia: Printed by B. Franklin, Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty for the province of New-Jersey, M,DCC,XLVIII (1748) Folio (310 x 185). Woodcut arms of George II on title-page; disbound, light spotting, a few minor creases, small chips, splits at the ends of the folds, and short edge-tears, the title, the upper corner of p. 3, and the last page lightly dust-soiled, paper repairs to the upper corners of the title, the top edge of the final leaf, and the lower corners of the final three leaves, with no losses to printing. Black cloth slipcase, chemise. A collection of 16 laws passed by the General Assembly of New Jersey in 1747–1748, the year Jonathan Belcher was appointed governor of the colony. The acts deal with a variety of topics, including livestock, infrastructure, slander, the punishment of counterfeiters, the importation of rum, and more. Two of the acts deal directly with the 1746 Land Riots, one being a pardon for the insurrectionists, known as the "Clinker Lot Right Men," and the other aimed at suppressing further unrest. Robert Morris was Chief Justice of the Colony of New Jersey when these laws were printed. Later on, as the deputy Governor of Pennsylvania, acting on behalf of the Penn family, he repeatedly clashed with Franklin and the Pennsylvania Assembly over the taxation of Penn family lands. His father, Lewis Morris, had been the colonial Governor of New Jersey until his death in 1746. This is the final piece of official printing that Franklin executed for the Province of New Jersey before Bradford took over. Franklin is mentioned on page 35, in a section detailing payments to the colony's official printers. For more on the Clinker Lot Right Men, see lot 41. Rare — only one copy of these laws has been sold at auction, the Ogden Goelet sale at Anderson Galleries in 1935, per RareBookHub. This copy includes an accompanying letter, evidently from a New York Bar Association librarian and laid into the clamshell case, referencing the Goelet sale and the fact that this copy was purchased from Newark Galleries. ESTC locates just four examples in institutional collections. REFERENCES Miller 449; ESTC W6242; Evans 6200; Hildeburn PROVENANCE Robert Hunter Morris (signature on title-page) — New York City Bar Association (purchased from Newark Galleries, 1935; Doyle Auctions, November 24 2014, lot 43)

View 1 of Lot 44: New Jersey Session Laws | Acts passed by the General Assembly of New Jersey in 1747-48, printed by Franklin

new jersey session laws | acts passed by the general assembly of new jersey in 1747-48, printed by franklin

Benjamin Franklin Engraved broadside document signed (“BFranklin,” with paraph) as President of the American Philosophical Society, on laid paper (236 x 357 mm), Philadelphia, 20 January 1786, being Charles C.-J. Le Roux’s certificate of membership in the American Philosophical Society, accomplished in a clerical hand, countersigned by Society Vice Presidents John Ewing, William White, and Samuel Vaughan and by Society Secretaries James Hutchinson, John Foulke, Robert Patterson, and Samuel Magaw, embossed paper seal of the Society suspended from the certificate by original blue silk ribbon; some separations and repair at folds and left platemark. Some light marginal stains. Tipped to a mat board. The membership certificate for Charles C.-J. Le Roux, an educator, inventor, and physicist—and a relatively early French member of the American Philosophical Society: “To all Persons to whom these Presents shall come, Greeting. The American Philosophical Society held at Philadelphia for promoting useful Knowledge, desirous of advancing the Interest of the Society by associating to themselves Men of distinguished Eminence, and of conferring Marks of their Esteem upon Persons of literary Merit have Elected Monsieur Le Roux a Member of the said Philosophical Society, hereby granting unto him all the Rights of Fellowship, with all the Liberties and Privileges thereunto belonging.” The American Philosophical Society was founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1743, but the scholarly society soon lapsed into drowsy inactivity. It was revived in 1767 and two years later merged with the American Society for Promoting Useful Knowledge. Le Roux met Franklin during the latter’s ambassadorship to Paris, and while both were inventors, probably their strongest shared bond was education reform. Le Roux was the founding editor of Journal d’éducation, which he published from 1768 to 1769, reviving the title from 1776 to 1778. He advocated for a pragmatic pedagogy that deemphasized the study of classical languages; this point of view aligned almost exactly with the curriculum Franklin outlined in his Idea of the English School (see lot 55). Le Roux was elected to membership in the APS in 1775; however, the Society did not adopt a membership certificate until 1786, when all living members were entitled to receive one. The present certificate, therefore, is part of the very first issuance. Le Roux spent his entire career in education, rising from a schoolteacher in Amiens to Physicien en l’Université de Paris. He evidently observed M. Le Coeur’s private boarding school in Passy when Franklin’s grandson Benjamin Franklin Bache was a student there. Franklin was invited by the Société Royale de Médecine to observe a demonstration of various swimming experiments and apparatus, including early version of a wetsuit, by Le Roux held at the Bains Chinois on Île Saint-Louis in the Seine on 10 March 1783. Although Franklin was a major advocate of the benefits of swimming, it is not known if Franklin attended Le Roux’s presentation. Franklin’s very first invention, at age 11, was a pair of swimfins for the hands, and he included among the “Letters and Papers on Philosophical Subjects” appended to the 1769 edition of Experiments and Observations on Electricity (see lot 105) a letter to Oliver Neave, encouraging him to learn how to swim and extolling the “enjoyment in so delightful and wholesome an exercise.”

View 1 of Lot 135: Benjamin Franklin | American Philosophical Society membership certificate for a French colleague of Franklin

benjamin franklin | american philosophical society membership certificate for a french colleague of franklin

James Macpherson MacPherson's Directory for the City and Suburbs of Philadelphia, extending to Prime-Street, southward; Maiden-Street, northward; and from the River Delaware to Tenth-Street, westward. Published October 1st, 1785, and to be corrected and republished annually. Containing, a Alphabetical List of the Names and Places of Abode of the Inhabitants. Philadelphia: Printed by Francis Bailey, at Yorick's-Head, no. 65, Market-Street, M,DCC,LXXXV (1785) Small 8vo (164 x 98). Eith the 3 pages of "numbers of houses that were empty and those inhabited by people who would not give their names," 2-page errata, and an 8-page manuscript on flyleaves at rear. Lightly toned, occasional spotting, a few very pale stains, a tiny chip at edge affecting about 7 leaves in the center of the text, old paper repair near the lower corner of leaf T1 affecting the catchword on p. 145, the final leaf with one page of errata supplied in facsimile. Early pink paper wrappers, with manuscript title on the front cover; rebacked, lightly soiled, some chips and small losses along the wrapper edges. Housed in a custom leather-backed clamshell case. First edition of Philadelphia's first directory, and the first separately published directory in the United States. "Franklin, Benjamin, his Excellency, 1, Franklin's Court" appears on page 48. Macpherson's Directory lists over 6,500 names and addresses throughout Philadelphia. Besides Franklin, some of the other notable names are Charles Wilson Peale, Francis Hopkinson, Robert Morris, and David Rittenhouse. The manuscript notes by Philadelphia antiquary John McAllister, bound in at the rear, list 62 directories published in Philadelphia between 1785 and 1856. This is apparently the earliest bibliography of Philadelphia directories. The list is accompanied by a short essay, also by McAllister, discussing both Macpherson's and Francis White's directories, both of which were issued in the same year. McAllister notes that Macpherson's Directory was advertised in June 1785, while White's was advertised in November of that year. Rare: only this copy and the Laird U. Park Jr. copy have appeared at auction in the last 85 years, and ESTC cites only four copies in institutional collections. REFERENCES ESTC W14248; Evans 19067; Spear, American Directories through 1860, p. 273 PROVENANCE Ramage? (illegible early ownership signature on title-page) — John McAllister (manuscript bibliography and essay)

View 1 of Lot 132: James Macpherson | The first directory of Philadelphia, and the first separately published directory in the United States, listing Franklin's address

james macpherson | the first directory of philadelphia, and the first separately published directory in the united states, listing franklin's address

[Political Cartoon] Zion Besieged and Attacked. [Philadelphia, William Poyntell, 1787] Hand-colored etching (sheet: 413 x 512 mm; platemark: 358 x 449 mm). Paper mildly toned, with some creasing, spotting and staining largely in the margins, three short tears and one tiny chip at edges, pencil annotations identifying around ten figures. Matted. An uncommonly large, incredibly complex, and vanishingly rare American political cartoon. "Perhaps the most complex and labyrinthine political cartoon ever made" (Library Company of Philadelphia, Made in America Printmaking, 1760–1860, Philadelphia, 1973, pp. 8–9). This anonymous cartoon satirizes the mercantile classes' furious reaction to the Pennsylvania legislature's revocation of Robert Morris's Bank of North America's charter in 1786. A portly Benjamin Franklin, the President of the state's Executive Council, is shown at right in a fort representing the 1776 Constitution of Pennsylvania. Franklin's fort is besieged by an army of bankers, as well as devils, witches, satyrs, and other nightmarish creatures who represent Morris's supporters and other enemies of the Pennsylvania Constitution. The cartoon also includes caricatures of prominent American politicians and philosophers, including Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Paine, Benjamin Rush, and Robert Morris. "The artist also vents his spleen on banks, medical practices, the rising interest in ballooning, pamphleteering, and printing with the vision of a latterday Breughel" (Ibid). The Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776, the most radical and democratic of early state Constitutions, featured an elected unicameral legislature and an executive council. It was eventually scrapped and replaced in 1790 by a more conservative document with a bicameral legislature, modelled more closely on the Federal Constitution. While untitled and unsigned, understandable for such politically contentious printing as this, the title appeared in an advertisement placed by Philadelphia printer, printseller, stationer, and collector William Poyntell in the 31 January 1787 edition of the Pennsylvania Journal or Weekly Advertiser. The imprint is inferred from the same source. There was also an explanatory broadside printed, signed "By a friend of the People." The example of this cartoon held by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania includes a title at the top reading "The Siege of Zion 1787"—as there is no evidence of erasure in the plate, it is likely that this version represents an earlier state of the etching. Rare: only two other copies are known (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Library of Congress), and we find no past auction records. REFERENCES OCLC 879307216; Library Company of Philadelphia, Made in America Printmaking, 1760–1860 12

View 1 of Lot 141: [Political Cartoon] | A rare political cartoon featuring Franklin and satirizing the 1776 Pennsylvania Constitution, Banks, and more

[political cartoon] | a rare political cartoon featuring franklin and satirizing the 1776 pennsylvania constitution, banks, and more

(Pennsylvania General Assembly — Benjamin Franklin)

(Pennsylvania General Assembly — Benjamin Franklin) (Group of 38 Pennsylvania Session Acts) Anno Regni Georgii II [...Georgi III]. Regis, Magnae Britanniae, Franciae & Hiberniae ... At a General Assembly of the province of Pennsylvania, begun and holden at Philadelphia. Philadelphia: printed and sold by Benjamin Franklin, [and others], 1739-69. 56 pamphlets, mostly folio (from 275 x 165 to 345 x 215 mm), ranging from 2 to 98 pages. Woodcut Penn family arms to titles, occasional woodcut ornaments and typographic tables in text; the condition varies, with some pamphlets soiled, spotted, and toned, while others are quite fresh and bright, all have been disbound and resewn, professionally conserved with Japanese tissue along the spines, a few pamphlets with additional paper repairs, most notably to the May 1739 pamphlet, infrequent dampstains, edge tears, and creases, most with library stamps and modern pencil annotations to titles, occasional early ink annotations, the collection includes 7 duplicates. Each pamphlet in an archival windowed folder, and the folders are then housed in four large grey cloth clamshell cases with paper labels. An extensive collection that spans thirty years of the acts and laws passed by the Pennsylvania General Assembly, printed by Benjamin Franklin. From 1682 until the beginning of the Revolutionary War, The General Assembly was the main legislative body for the colony of Pennsylvania. Franklin was elected official government printer of both the Session Laws and the Votes and Proceedings of the Assembly in 1730. He continued in this role until 1765, when he sold his remaining shares in his printing business to his longtime partner, David Hall. He also served as clerk for the Assembly from 1736 to 1750, and as an elected member representing Philadelphia from 1751–64, and again in 1773 and 1775. On 26 May, 1764, Franklin was unanimously elected the 25th Speaker of the Assembly, a position he did not hold for long. Later that year, on 11 October, after having proposed a letter to the King requesting a change in the colony's government from proprietorship to a royal charter, he lost his seat in the Assembly. These acts cover a vast array of topics, providing insight into nearly all aspects of civic and private life all throughout the colony. For example, they range from the hyper-specific, like commuting a single prisoner's sentence, to the very broad, such as changes to the colony's judicial system. Included are laws regulating politics, finance, taxation, infrastructure, wildlife, public safety, slavery, and much more. Of particular note are the acts founding two of Pennsylvania's counties, those that deal with colonial relations with American Indians, and a series of laws regulating volunteer militias and commissioned soldiers during the French and Indian War. The creation of two of the charitable institutions that Franklin had a hand in are also represented — the act establishing The Pennsylvania Hospital, together with the system of promissory notes that funded it (see lots 60 and 61), and the act that created the Philadelphia Contributionship, America's first successful fire insurance company (see lot 100), are both included. A list of all the individual sessions, with descriptions of some of their acts, laws, and particularities, follows: Box I: 1 May, 1739: early ownership signature of Robert Dawson, 17397 May, 1744: "An Act for laying an Excise on Wine, Rum, Brandy, and other Spirits"7 March, 1745: Acts "for Erecting Houses of Correction and Work-Houses... to build a Court-House..."9 June, 1746: "An Act for imposing a Duty on Persons Convicted of heinous Crimes, &c"3 May, 1747: "Securing the City of Philadelphia from the Danger of Gunpowder"2 January, 1749: "To Regulate Horse-Jockeys and Dealers in Horses"; "to Encourage the Killing of Squirrels"7 August, 1750: Protecting the citizens of remote Western Lancaster County1 January, 1750: Creation of Cumberland County; prohibiting the importation of too many Germans in a single ship; amending the act to encourage killing squirrels and hunting deer out of season6 August, 17507 January, 1751: Surveying Cumberland County; Suppressing fire, drunkenness, and idleness; Philadelphia nightly watch6 May, 1751: The creation of Pennsylvania Hospital — "An Act to encourage the establishing of an Hospital for the Relief of the Sick Poor of this Province, and for the Reception and Cure of Lunaticks."3 February, 1752: Creation of Berks County; preventing bribery and corruption in the elections of sheriffs and coroners.10 August, 175215 September, 175515 November, 1755: Ordering and regulating volunteer militias,2 January, 1758: Regulating commissioned officers and soldiers.2 January [but apparently April], 1758[May, 1758]: Granting a duty on wine and sugar for supporting the war effort; punishing mutiny and desertion; Lacks title4 September, 17585 February, 1759: "preventing abuses in the Indian trade; for supplying the Indians, friends and allies of Great Britain with goods at more easy rates; and for securing and strengthening peace and friendship lately concluded with the Indians inhabiting the northern and western frontiers of this province." Box II: 2 January [but April], 17588 July, 176330 September, 1763: Erecting a lighthouse on Cape Henlopen, and fixing buoys in the bay and on the Delaware River; Paving the streets of Philadelphia22 October, 1763: Prohibiting the sale of arms to American Indians30 May, 1764: Published during Franklin's short tenure as Speaker of the General Assembly, with Franklin mentioned on p. 35215 February, 1765: Raising a lottery for finishing the construction of St. Peter's and St. Paul's Churches in Philadelphia, and for other Episcopal churches throughout the state; relief for specific persons imprisoned for their debts18 May, 1765: Repairing public roads Box III: 21 May, 1759[After May, 1759]: for recording of warrants and surveys; lacks title11 February, 176014 March, 1761: Regulating waggoners, carters, draymen, and porters in the City of Philadelphia; the preservation of fish in the Delaware, Susquehanna, Lehigh, and Schuylkill rivers; raising, paying, and clothing 300 men to relieve the forts and posts around Pittsburgh; a duty on slaves imported into Pennsylvania23 April, 1761: supplement to the act laying a duty on imported slaves26 September, 176117 February, 1762: suppressing and preventing lotteries,26 March, 17623 May, 17624 March, 1763: Removing "certain nuisances," mostly drunkards and thieves, from Philadelphia; regulating streets, water courses, and sewers in Philadelphia, regulating apprentices in Pennsylvania; repaying those whose Apprentices have joined the militia8 July, 1763: duplicate30 September, 1763: duplicate 22 October, 1763: duplicate 24 March 1764: "For Preventing tumults and riotous assemblies, and for the more speedy and effectual punishing the rioters"; repeal of an earlier law about intestate estates30 May, 1764: duplicate 22 September, 176415 February, 1765: duplicate Box IV: 18 May, 1765: duplicate 21 September, 1765; Allowing Lancaster to raise funds for a night watch, "For the more easy recovery of legacies," a lottery to erect a bridge over Skippack Creek in Philadelphia21 September, 1765; duplicate8 February, 1766: stopping citizens from cutting ropes used by Ferrymen; for employment, relief, and support of Philadelphia's poor; Printed by D. Hall21 February, 1767: to prevent mischief from the increase of vagabonds in Philadelphia; "for the advancement of justice and more certain administration thereof"; Printed by D. Hall, and W. Sellers 20 May, 1967: Raising 20,000 pounds for the support of the province and payment of public debt; appointing wardens for the port of Philadelphia: Printed by William Goddard20 September, 1766: Printed by D. Hall, and W. Sellers26 September, 1767: "Obliging sheriffs and treasurers... and the collector of the duties of tonnage, to give sufficient sureties for the faithful execution of their trust"; Printed by D. Hall, and W. Sellers20 February, 1768: "to remove the persons now settled, and to prevent others from settling, on any lands in the province not purchased of the Indians"; "raising... the sum of three thousand pounds towards removing the present discontent of the Indians, regaining their friendship..."; "An act for the incorporating the Society, known by the name and stile of The Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insuring of Houses from Loss by Fire..."; Printed by D. Hall, and W. Sellers18 February, 1769: various infrastructure and building projects in and around Philadelphia; prosecuting those behind a failed lottery scheme to build a school-house for a High Dutch Reformed Church congregation in Lancaster; a divorce on the grounds of adultery in Lancaster; Printed by D. Hall, and W. Sellers27 May, 1769: Printed by D. Hall, and W. Sellers30 September, 1769: Printed by D. Hall, and W. Sellers REFERENCES Miller 175; 360; 401; 402; 429; 482; 483; 512; 513; 538; 539; 560; 561; 617; 618; 686; 687; 688; 691; 708; 709; 735; 757; 758; 759; 777; 778; 779; 790; 791; 792; 793; 817; 818; 844; 845; 846 PROVENANCE Most from the New York City Bar Association (library stamps and pencil annotations; sold Doyle Auctions, 24 November, 2014)

View 1 of Lot 16: Pennsylvania General Assembly | Session laws spanning thirty years

pennsylvania general assembly | session laws spanning thirty years

Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl Stanhope Principles of Electricity, Containing Divers new Theorems and Experiments, Together With An Analysis Of the Superior Advantages of high and pointed Conductors. This Treatise comprehends an Explanation of an Electrical Returning Stroke, by which, Fatal Effects may be Produced, even at a Vast Distance from the Place where the Lightning Falls. London: Printed for P. Elmsly, in the Strand, M.DCC.LXX.IX (1779) 4to (284 x 214 mm, uncut). Blue paper issue, with early manuscript corrections in ink following the errata list, woodcut tailpiece ornaments in text, and 6 engraved folding plates at rear; light toning mostly affecting the first and last few gatherings, very infrequent pale spotting or staining, a crease to the upper corner of the title-page, gathering a loosening at the top of the gutter, a marginal tear to leaf 2C1 not affecting the text, offsetting in the plates, a rather clean, full-margined copy. Contemporary calf-backed marbled boards; rebacked, preserving much of the original spine, the boards rubbed with wear along edges, hinges reinforced. Half red morocco slipcase, chemise. A deluxe presentation copy of the Principles of Electricity, given to Benjamin Franklin by the book's author, Charles Stanhope, and inscribed on the front free endpaper, “From the Author to B. Franklin, 2nd June 1785.” This outstanding copy, printed on blue paper, with manuscript corrections evidently in the author's hand, remains uncut and in its original boards, much like it was when Franklin received it. Charles Stanhope (1753–1816), a radical Whig politician, an experimental scientist, and an inventor with an interest in printing presses, shared much in common with Franklin. He undoubtedly would have admired Franklin, both for his politics, and for his achievements in science, printing, and writing. The present work mentions Franklin's electrical experiments several times. In fact, a sizeable portion of it, including one of the plates, is dedicated to the debate that Franklin had started over whether sharply pointed lightning rods are more effective at neutralizing electric charges than ones with rounded tips. In this matter, Stanhope supported Franklin's pointed tips against King George III, The Royal Society, and rounded tips. With the Revolutionary War actively raging, the debate had become politicized, so his strong position on the matter was a controversial one. After conducting a series of highly publicized experiments, he felt that he had proved Franklin correct. He published his findings in this work. Later, he thanked Franklin and memorialized their shared victory by giving him this copy of his book. Stanhope also invented two calculating machines, a microscope lens, a steam carriage, and a new variety of more durable cement, as well as a stereotyping machine and the first completely iron hand printing press, which he called the Stanhope press. When this work was published, he still styled himself Charles Viscount Mahon; he would later succeed to the peerage in 1786. In June 1785, when Franklin received this book, he was preparing to leave Passy. In mid-July 1785, he boarded a ship at Havre de Grace and set sail homewards, arriving in Philadelphia that September. The idea for this special presentation copy, however, may have been born a year earlier in the Fall of 1784, when William Temple Franklin met both Charles and his father while in London. William wrote to his grandfather on 12 October, stating, "Lord Stanhope—& his Son Ld. Mahon, (who live at abt. 3 Miles from Mr. Sargents),—rec'd me very politely,—& express’d the greatest Respect for you.— I have a Book for you from Ld. Stanhope—& another for the Society at Philada" (Papers 43:178–180). The book William mentions in his letter was likely the Opera quaedam reliqua (Glasgow, 1776), a posthumous work by the Scottish mathematician Robert Simson that Lord Stanhope had underwritten. REFERENCES ESTC T140651; Wolf and Hayes, Library of Benjamin Franklin 3236 PROVENANCE Benjamin Franklin (presentation inscription from the author) — Laird U. Park Jr. (Sotheby's New York, 29 November 2000, lot 338)

View 1 of Lot 121: Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl Stanhope | A presentation copy inscribed to Franklin

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